Impossible Binds
by jumbuck
Summary: Agent Dean reappears in Jane's life with unpleasant news. The FBI believes a serial killer is slowly and methodically targeting female medical examiners, and Maura fits the risk profile. What choices will Jane make to protect Maura?
1. Chapter 1

Jane stomped up the stairs in her boots. The thought that Maura would encourage her to think "calm thoughts" when en route to the lieutenant's office, so she might think carefully before speaking, passed through her mind, but dammit, she was angry, so she might as well be angry. What you see is what you get. Because it was bad enough she was so behind on paperwork that she had to have a day at her desk doing it. And bad enough Cavanaugh had hauled her in to his office to grumble about it last week. Sure, he had tried to sweeten her up, telling her how much he valued her, how much he wanted her back in the field, yadda yadda. But to have him summons her today when she was actually doing the damn paperwork, thus interrupting the damn paperwork, thus slowing her down, thus making the damn paperwork last longer, dammit she really didn't need him riding her when she was actually on task.

Seeing his door closed, she knocked loudly, and entered when she heard him shout "Rizzoli? Come on in".

She stomped rather pointedly in to his office, then to her surprise saw Agent Gabriel Dean. "What is he doing here?" she grumbled in surprise. Presumably a fed wasn't involved in her paperwork backlog.

Dean stood up and held out a hand "Nice to see you again Rizzoli"

"humpf" Jane muttered, whilst disinterestedly shaking his hand.

"Rizzoli, sit down and at least pretend to have some manners. You are going to want to hear what Dean has to say in this setting, before we inform anyone else"

Jane sat, and was aware of feeling more and more tense. Much as she wanted to be rescued from paperwork, this clearly wasn't about paperwork, but if it brought Dean to Cavanaugh's office, and Cavanaugh was so terse, it wasn't good news.

Dean cleared his throat and began

"Look. I know you like it straight to the point Rizzoli, so here goes. The FBI has reason to believe there is a serial killer targeting medical examiners. Last week there was a third murder of a medical examiner in the last two years. All different states. All unsolved. The first two cases were worked up extensively by the police within each state, presuming that the murder likely related to a case the ME had worked. No leads came up. Mob involvement was also considered, but no clear links found. With the third case notified to us last week, we are increasingly convinced the cases look like someone is specifically targeting MEs. Someone highly professional and organised. The three victims share some similarities. All female, well regarded, experienced, medical examiners. We can't find any links between the three beyond this – no cases in common, no cases suspected to involve the same organised crime groups. We have tried to trace any link between the three victims, but can't find any professional links, any shared sub-specialties. Two did attend the same conference for medical examiners in 2012 and 2013, but since there were 2000+ international delegates at that conference, it is almost surprising it is the only time they may have crossed paths. And we think overall it is unlikely they even spoke. What we know of the MO is very similar.

Case 1. Esme Grocott. 52. Divorced. Two children of college age, both living away from home. Has been a Medical Examiner in Fort Worth, Dallas since 1998. Found strangled, 18 Dec 2013, in a park near her house. She was in running gear and was known to frequently run before work. One simple ligature left. No trace evidence at all. No motive found in her life outside of work. She was in fact seen as scrupulous, and devoted to her work. Her ex-husband reported her to be a workaholic but otherwise remained very positive in his regard of her, and both children reported no significant animosity between their divorced parents.

Case 2. Mary Sanson. 46. Murdered 8 October 2014. At that time had recently separated from her partner of 6 years. No children. Medical Examiner in Madison, Wisconsin for the last 2 years. Prior to that she had worked in Cincinnati and Juneau. Again, well liked, well regarded. On a promotion path and expected to eventually become the chief medical examiner of the state of Wisconsin when the current incumbent retires. Ex-Partner has a solid alibi in New York for the night of the murder. Found strangled with a simple ligature, no useful trace evidence in her home. Found when staff went round to her house when she did not turn up to work.

Case 3. Elizabeth Hivers. 31. Murdered 12 December 2015. Newly appointed medical examiner in Little Rock, Arkansas. Had been in the job four months, having completed her residency in the same centre. Has a boyfriend of four years, who is a medic in the army who was stationed in Afghanistan at the time of her murder. His most recent deployment began three months before her murder. Again, found at home, strangled in her apartment. Simple ligature. A few fibres, but so far no useful leads. Seen to be an outstanding young medical examiner, excellent references, got offered several jobs on completing her residency. Family report she is clean living, they like her boyfriend – their only comments were they were disappointed they had not gotten engaged."

"Mmhmm" Jane nodded. "And this involves BPD how?"

Dean replied "obviously we are very concerned we may have someone targeting medical examiners. We have looked back for any other national cases regarding murders of MEs, and looked for any murders of criminologists, lab staff or the likes. But these three stand out together. So we are approaching any jurisdiction which we believe has a high risk target. We have identified four other locales who also have a highly accomplished, female, medical examiner in the 30-60 age range, who lives alone. Dr Maura Isles obviously fits this profile. So generally we are approaching each centre to approach the ME with us and talk about how we will manage risk. We are trying to keep this situation out of the media. At the current time we have no real breaks, and no leads. But we are hoping that at the least, presuming there is one perp, he doesn't know that we think there may be links. We are obviously assembling a team to work on this case at a federal level. I had approached Cavanaugh here to ask if you might consider being seconded to that. We have worked together before, you have good instincts, and you know a lot more about the habits of medical examiners than most detectives."

Cavaunagh interrupted at this point "your choice Rizzoli. As there hasn't been a crime within BPD, we won't be investigating anything. I will be assembling a small team to discuss security with Dr Isles, but that will be the limit of our active involvement. If you stay here, you can oversee Dr Isles security plan. If you go with the feds on secondment, you work the case. I am happy to release you to the secondment, but always very happy to have you on the streets here"

Jane looked from Cavanaugh to Dean and back "so can I think about it for an hour?"

Dean "In fact you have four hours. We need to brief Dr Isles and the small team Cavanaugh is choosing to be in the know for this situation. Then I will be flying out to the next jurisdiction we think has an at-risk target to brief them. You choose then whether you stay here or whether you join me"

…..

Jane waited outside the small meeting room with Korsak, Frost, Frankie, Anderson and Somersby who the lieutenant had chosen to be involved in the team planning Maura's security. She knew that Maura was inside with Dean and Cavanaugh being briefed at the moment.

The door opened and Cavanaugh invited them in, and briefly summarised matters for the BPD staff chosen "Hi team. This is an operation to be kept quiet please. You have all been selected based on your skills and your discretion. The FBI has reason to believe that Dr Isle's life may be at risk. Unfortunately the timeframe is unclear, and possibly long. Three female MEs have been murdered using a similar MO in the last two years. There is not a sign the pattern is accelerating. However we need to think about how to take precautions. Agent Dean from the FBI is our liaison point with the federal investigation – which aims to find this perp, who may be anywhere in the country if the hypothesis is correct".

Korsak coughed "gee Doc, I'm sorry to hear that. It must be unsettling. I'm happy to do anything needed"

The others chorused their agreement.

Somersby, a veteran detective who'd been in the force 25 years, asked "so what do you want us to do? 24 hour cover isn't going to be viable if the time frame is months?"

Cavanaugh "indeed. That is what I would like you 5 or 6 to discuss with Dr Isles. "

Frost "5 or 6?"

Cavanaugh "the FBI have asked if detective Rizzoli would take a secondment to work the hunt for the perp with them. She is currently thinking about it"

Maura looked up "what do you think you will do Jane?"

Jane mumbled "haven't given it much thought yet" which was far from the truth. Since finding out she had been torn between her desire to run and tell Maura she was at risk and handcuff her to herself if necessary to keep her in sight and safe, and thinking rationally that this could run on for months, and all they could really do was sit and wait if she stayed with the BPD. Wheras if she went to FBI headquarters, at least it felt like she was taking the offensive against the perp. But that meant leaving Maura.

Korsak "well, I am happy to do whatever is needed. On or off the clock. Happy to stay some nights at Dr Isles, or have her at my place."

Frankie "yeah, me too, obviously"

Maura spoke up "I've been wondering whether I can reduce my risk profile some other way. Like make myself fit the profile less well?"

Everyone looked up

"you were saying Agent Dean the profile is female, average aged MEs who live for long periods on their own. So what if"

Jane snorted an interruption "what if you stopped being an ME? C'mon Maura, we all know that is a part of you?"

"No Jane, I was thinking more about finding someone to live with me, be in a relationship"

"So you're gonna put that on Tinder "Looking for a man to make me less appealing to a serial killer" I'm sure you'll get some quality responses to that"

Maura looked a little deflated and awkward and Jane felt ashamed "look sorry Maura, just a bit tense wondering how we can protect you when we don't know who from and for how long. I didn't mean to diss your idea"

Maura began again "I wasn't thinking finding someone de novo Jane. I was thinking of pretending to be in a relationship with someone I already know. It would look smoother than a random. And might be more comfortable if someone was willing"

Agent Dean "I'm not sure I follow Maura – you're suggesting you pretend to be in a relationship to put the killer off? Who were you thinking you would do this with? Someone we know?"

Maura looked up "Jane would be the obvious choice"

"Obvious?" Jane spluttered. "what the fuck, I mean opps, sorry boss, but what on earth do you mean obvious Maura?"

"Well Jane we spend a lot of time together, half the precinct believes we are together but closeted"

Jane looked livid "What mangy little twerps are spreading that rumour? Really? When I get my hands on…."

Frankie "look Jane, just calm a bit and think about it. It makes some sense"

Jane "sense? What about the bit where we suddenly pretend Maura is a lesbian? How are we going to sell that?"

Maura "I'm not sure the problem Jane, I think I am open-minded. It doesn't bother me what people think. I'd be proud to have such an accomplished woman as you as my girlfriend"


	2. Chapter 2

Jane looked up at everyone looking interested, and Maura looking – how was Maura looking? Hopeful? About whether people liked her idea? Or whether Jane would say yes to the pretense, or? No stop that line of thought. "well that may be as it is, but I won't be here anyway"

Maura "where will you be Jane?"

Jane "I will be off with the Feds working on the case. So if you want to pretend to be in a relationship, maybe you will need to decide which one of these guys here is more your type" gesturing at the male detectives in the room.

At this point Cavanaugh suggested they go away and think on what they knew, and meet again later in the day. He asked Jane to stay behind

"Sure this is what you want to do Rizzoli? You don't have to take this secondment, and you don't have to leave Maura"

"Are you in on this gay rumour too Cavanaugh?". Jane semi-snarled, but immediately regretted the comment as soon as she made it "sorry boss, uncalled for. I just like my private life to be private. Well as private as it can be with my talkative mother working in the Division 1 café"

Cavanaugh looked warmly at her "You know Jane, you probably won't appreciate this, but no one minds anything you are or aren't doing with Maura. I know she matters to you however you define it, and I will support any decision you make, now and in the future."

Jane summonsed a part smile in return

"and Rizzoli, I wouldn't worry about the rumours. The rookies are even more astonished by your prowess when they hear not only your feats of bravery in the field, but that you have bagged the hottest woman in the precinct – it just adds to your mystique. The comments are made more in awe than trying to take you down. "

"ah thanks Boss, I think"

…..

Jane sat on the plane thinking back through the day. If only she could swallow her damn pride and go back and say she thought Maura's plan was a good one. Well, not just her pride. Her fear. The thought of pretending to be Maura's girlfriend for weeks or months. It was either going to make her, or be the death of her. On the one hand she could see how it would make Maura safer. And it would mean she got to spend more time with her. On the other hand, every day she balanced what she now accepted was a deep love for Maura, a fantasy there could be something more with her, with the fear that to let her know the depth of her feelings might ruin the friendship she had with maura, and she needed to keep her in her life. At the moment, wherever her fantasy thoughts went, she was able to keep coming back to the question "is this what a good friend would do?" keeping some boundaries in place. If she was to pretend Maura was her girlfriend for months, how would she know where the boundaries were, and how to keep herself appropriate? She didn't have an idea for situations like "you are pretending to be the date of the woman you are in love with, who thinks you are just her best friend, and she asks you to kiss her in public". How hard to do you kiss her? Perfunctory pecks? Or as if you actually mean it? And if you do it as you mean it, what if you get carried away and don't stop? What if it just becomes unbearable – acting the thing you desperately want? A smaller voice in Jane's mind suggested maybe it was an opportunity – maybe a chance to discuss their relationship a bit, open up a theoretical discussion. Maybe it was a practical chance to show Maura what being Jane's girlfriend could be like. I mean Maura did say "I'd be proud to have such an accomplished woman as you as my girlfriend" - was she implying something? Of course not – she was just saying that Jane wasn't a total loser, not that she found her attractive. And what the heck was Cav saying? That Jane shouldn't worry about the rumours? Jane's head hurt. At the end of the day she concluded she was a coward. She couldn't tell her best friend she was in love with her, and she had made the decision to go and throw herself in to an investigation miles from her at just the time she could do with her support. Jane thought back to her goodbye with Maura. As always, Maura told her she understood, and knew Jane was taking herself away to do what she thought was best to keep Maura safe. Maura hugged her warmly and tightly. Oh the feeling of Maura pressed against her. Breasts, hips, warm, soft arms. Maura had pressed especially tight and long – maybe reflecting her fear and the goodbye. Jane enjoyed the long hug but then thought she'd better laugh it off "c'mon Maura, we don't want to give them more reason to talk". Maura looked up "let them talk Jane. I will miss you, so much" she added quietly. Jane promised to remain in regular phone and text contact. Frankie had offered to move in to Maura's for now. Maura was thinking on it, and Jane knew that Korsak who was overseeing the plan to increase her security would make good decisions. And Ma – Jane was going to have to phone Ma once they landed to let her know the situation.

…..

Jane looked grim as she carried her bag back from the baggage carousel. Dean looked up "you know Jane, if you want to change your mind, want to go back, I'll think nothing of it"

Jane sighed "no, I've made my choice. I need to be busy. I'll drive everyone nuts if I just have to sit and wait at the BPD. Now do you want me involved in this next briefing?"

"Please come along Jane. I'll introduce you as part of our team. Just sit and listen – you may pick something up that is useful later. This is my part of the briefings done, so back to Washington after this so we can assemble the team and fully brief you on everything we know so far. Rodriguez is out doing the other three states at the moment and will arrive back a few hours behind us"

…

Jane finally got her bag in to the hostel room Dean had arranged for her for visiting FBI staff near headquarters at 1115pm. She immediately lay on the bed and text Maura

 _Up for a call?_

The phone rang in reply and she was pleased to hear Maura's warm voice on the line.

…..

Maura picked up the phone anxiously when she heard a text alert. She smiled when she saw it was finally contact from Jane. She was surprised to see the time at the top of her phone was now after 11pm. She realised she must have been lying on the couch reflecting on her day for the last two hours. She wondered if she had briefly fallen asleep, but realised she was probably just lost in her own thoughts.

What a day. The whole serial killer thing was disquieting. She smiled wryly to herself. No need for understatement in your own mind. Rationally though, she could see that whilst the pattern did suggest a need for vigilance, it didn't seem an imminent risk. The cases were months apart. Whilst she fit the profile, so did a handful of other women. Gee, the FBI hadn't even confirmed this was the work of the same person. There was still a chance these were just random events. Rationally a small chance maybe – overall she agreed the pattern appeared probable, but it wasn't definite. And forewarned was hopefully somewhat forearmed.

So whilst she appreciated the offers of sleepovers, she had considered the options and concluded that as the risk period was months, and that would become stifling at some point. She had instead agreed with a plan to minimise risk Korsak had devised. She would now be absolutely vigilant about locking her house up, and setting alarms. If her alarm activated, not only would her private security company be notified, but an alert would go to the cells of the five detectives involved in the security plan. She would only enter and leave the car in the internal access garage. She wouldn't open the door to anyone unknown, which meant no takeout deliveries. Not that that worried her too much – she was as happy to fix herself a salad – Jane was the takeout junkie. If she was running anywhere that wasn't busy and well lit, she would run with Frost or Frankie or one of the staff who enjoyed running from the lab. Basically she would still have some freedom, but they were looking to minimise risk and easy opportunities, just in case.

She thought that plan was reasonable. Her next worry was Jane. She was trying not to make too much of Jane's apparent horror that she might suggest they dated. She worried she had inadvertently pushed Jane away from herself, and towards Gabriel Dean. She knew from the past that wasn't a great mix. On the one hand, she suspected Jane's call was correct – Jane would drive everyone nuts around here, thinking that she should be doing something to keep Maura safe – when the only thing she could do in Boston was act as Maura's personal security guard. She wasn't sure a restless, cooped up detective in her space constantly was the best mix. Jane was at her best when actively able to try and solve a problem. Not sitting and waiting for the problem to come to her.

The comment about Jane pretending to be her girlfriend was impulsive, spur of the moment. Impulsivity wasn't like her. Although her rational brain still argued it was a good plan even if it was blurted out in haste. Jane was by miles the most likely BPD staff member people would be convinced she had coupled up with. In fact she got the impression Korsak and Frankie thought it was an excellent idea. Indeed Frankie had seemed to say at least as much when he commented to Maura later that he was "sorry my numbskull sister can't think a bit harder before running off to save the world, whilst missing what's in front of her". In fact the only one of the team who seemed to have any kind of homophobic response to the idea was….Jane Rizzoli. She still couldn't figure Jane out on that front. Jane didn't seem to have any issue with gay and lesbian couples they knew, and yet when it came to her, she still seemed to see it as some monumental insult people would even consider it. No matter how many times Maura gently discussed tolerance around the idea, Jane was stuck. So overall, it wasn't the best thing to suggest to Jane in front of an audience. Maybe she could have handled it better. She just hoped she hadn't upset their friendship. Really she could have done with being wrapped in a reassuring Jane Rizzoli hug right now, but if she couldn't have that, she'd at least like to hear things were okay between them. And hopefully either this thing would get sorted in the next few weeks, or Jane would get bored of the task force and ask to come back home.

"Rizzoli". Maura loved hearing Jane's husky voice

"It's good to hear your voice Jane, how are you"

"tired, my head is still whirling, it's been a long day. What's that noise?"

"Oh here we are Joe Friday – can you hear Mama? I have Joe Friday here for now Jane – she can keep Bass company. Your Mother has agreed to walk her for me so I don't have to go out on my own – and I don't entirely have time."

"thanks Maura – oh shit, my Mother"

"language Jane"

"Yes Maur, sorry Maur. Ah I forgot to call my Mother"

"Frankie and I have filled her in on a few details. Just that you are off with the FBI and will be in touch, and generally we are increasing security around female staff. She seems to have bought that for now, but was of course commenting it would be nice to hear it from you, yourself"

"I'm sorry Maura. What would I do without you to manage my Mother, and my dog, and my bad language? I miss you already"


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's note: This chapter is a long way from fluff. I think it furthers my plotline and isn't unrealistic - my intention isn't to deliberately upset. Thanks for the comments, follows and favourites**

Jane sat in the briefing Dean was giving to the new larger taskforce looking for a possible perp. Really they had almost nothing beyond what he had outlined to her in Boston. She met the team. Dean she knew. Rodriquez who had been out to brief the other identified states with likely targets was a middle-aged female agent with a similar amount of experience to Dean. She appeared highly professional. She wasn't unfriendly, but she didn't seem especially warm on first acquaintance. The two analysts assigned to the case appeared to know Dean well and had a good rapport with him – Andrea Anderson was the oldest active FBI staffer Jane had met, clearly in her sixties – and Jane wondered if there was mandatory retirement on the horizon. She certainly was experienced and alert and Jane could see from the way they interacted that Dean wouldn't be keen to lose her if it was. At the other extreme, Marcia Grey had been with the FBI only for the last eight months, but Dean was clear she was someone he wanted on the team for her grasp of modern technology. Andrew Cleavers was a homicide detective from Madison, Wisconsin who had lead the Mary Sanson case. He had agreed to secondment with the team, and was clearly keen to get a result and described his frustration that he had nothing to offer the Sanson family by way of explanation for her death. Finally, one of the FBIs resident medical examiners, Laura Anderson was available as the team needed to answer questions and review information.

Jane and Cleavers were to spend the day reviewing the homicide case files from the three investigations together. Overall Jane agreed with Dean – the cases had clearly been given top staff, as would be expected when someone prominent and well respected by the team was the victim, and every lead had been run down in an organised and thorough fashion. Certainly this wasn't going to be a case where they found some obvious holes in the original work up of the cases and came in with a quick solution.

Jane and Cleavers sat tossing ideas between them. The lack of trace evidence at the crime scenes was in its self, highly notable. It was as if someone highly professional was involved. Which lead them to speculate on whether it might be professional hits, or whether it might be someone with a very good knowledge of forensic science. The second two cases had occurred at the MEs home, and in neither case was there evidence of forced entry. And limited signs of a scuffle. Time of death in both cases was late evening and the ME had not yet changed for bed. They mused on whether the ME had let someone in; whether there was an individual that two MEs in different states would know – or a category of person – like delivery person or salesperson or that would have the door opened to them.

At the end of the day reading files the team sat and discussed possibilities. They confirmed that the employee records of all three jurisdictions had been compared and there were no overlaps. There was no evidence of any phone calls too or from the victims in the hours prior to their death which appeared against the take out delivery idea.

….

Maura was trying to go about business as usual in Boston. A couple of times she thought she heard the familiar clomp of boots, but realised it was not Jane. And wouldn't be Jane. Korsak kindly came down and invited her to lunch with him and Frost, which she appreciated but chose to work through at her desk to catch up on some paperwork.

When she got home she found Bass and Joe Friday looking very settled together, which made her smile. They got on surprisingly well. Just as she put her bag down, Angela bustled in and encouraged her to come out dog walking with her.

"have you heard from Jane?" Angela asked.

Maura sighed "yes thank you Angela, a couple of texts"

"it's not the same is it dear?"

"No"

"I miss her too. Headstrong and difficult as she is. You know you mean the world to her. She thinks she is doing the right thing by you by doing this. But knowing my Janey, she'll be hating it. Much as she pretends she hates everyone meddling in her life, she will be missing us terribly. But if she were here, she'd be driving us nuts about the fact she wasn't doing anything. Can't win."

Maura smiled wanly "I guess it is hard for anyone to win if there is a serial killer."

Angela looked up "we'd best get this dog out. A brisk walk is probably what we both need. Enjoy a bit of fresh air"

….

Jane called each night. They chatted about Jane's new team, Maura's team, what Maura had heard of Korsak and Frost, updates on Bass and Joe Friday. It got in to a pattern to lie in bed each night debriefing the day. Jane looked forward to the call all day

"I miss you terribly you know?" she commented to Maura

"I miss you too Jane"

"I wish I could put my arms around you so much some times." Then frantically added "you know, so you felt safe and all"

"mmhmm. I do feel safe with you Jane"

Maybe relaxed by lying in bed being tired, maybe her brain was emboldened by not being physically there, Jane heard herself saying "You know, being with you is the best relationship I've ever had". Then spluttered "not that I have, ah, been with you. Not that…"

"I know what you meant Jane, I love you too"

Jane lay in bed, furiously blushing about making comments about "being with Maura", worried Maura might read Jane's mind, and see where it went some times as she sought relaxation before sleep. She suddenly realised she'd not replied to Maura. "ah, gosh, I ah, I love you too" she spluttered out.

"I know Jane, I can see that"

Jane so nearly asked Maura what she saw, wondering if Maura was trying to move the conversation towards more, but then chickened out. Most of the time she thought her fantasies about Maura were just that, fantasies. Just occasionally when Maura looked at her, she wondered if she saw some longing, some desire. But then reminded herself it was probably her hopeful imagination. She quickly pulled out of the conversation. "So I uh, have to go. Early start tomorrow. Night Maura"

…

The days turned to weeks. Jane felt like they had gone over and over every possible lead, every possible link. They had brainstormed, spoken to a profiler, watched random hours of surveillance tapes from the entrance to each mortuary, spoken to family. They had nothing on this guy. Presuming it was a guy. There had been no alerts, no concerns about any further MEs. Jane started to wonder if she was in the right place – what was she really achieving here? She wasn't any closer to making Maura safe, she missed her family, she missed Joe Friday, she missed Korsak and Frost, and most of all she missed Maura. She knew Dean must be under pressure to move the investigation along or have it closed down, and she wasn't sure if asking to end her secondment would cause problems for him, or help by reducing the team size. Personally she was convinced he was right – she was convinced that a highly organised, slow and methodical killer was behind these deaths. But she was damned if she could see how they could catch him unless he made a mistake. And they hadn't found a single mistake in the three deaths to date, so to make a mistake, they really needed him to act again. Which was a very unsettling thought.

….

Dean dropped by Jane's desk.

"C'mon Rizzoli. Call it a night. We've been at it for weeks. You're tired, we're all tired. Take an evening off?"

"Take an evening off and do what?"

"What do you normally do Jane? Watch some ESPN – there must be a game on somewhere in the world. Have a drink with me? Go pick someone up in a bar? Go for a run? Anything, but you can't keep spending 16 hours a day at FBI headquarters."

"Gosh I dunno Dean, I just keep thinking that there must be some kind of answer here somewhere"

"yep and if there is, it will be there tomorrow. You need a break. Look come get a beer and a pizza at the sports bar down the road with me, at least as a decent dinner break"

Jane finally stood up, rolled her shoulders to loosen her joints and agreed to come out with him. One beer quickly became three. Then he suggested some whisky shots. It had been a hard few weeks. It seemed a reasonable idea. A few hours later she found herself staggering up the steps to his apartment after they had been asked to leave when the bar was closing up. She wobbled slightly on the steps and he grabbed her "easy there tiger, let's get you in and on to the couch eh before you take a fall"

They got to the landing and he struggled with his keys. The whisky had clearly had an effect on him too.

"Coffee Jane?"

"Maura tells me I need to drink more water after drinking alcohol. Rehydrate or something. She says caffeine might sober me up a bit, but it also dehydrates me further making the next day worse"

"smart woman that Dr Isles. So water it is"

He went to hand the water to Jane but between the two of them being somewhat intoxicated, they fumbled the glass in the handover process and most of it went on to Jane's shirt.

"erck, best get this off" she remarked, undoing her button up and stripping down to bra and pants. She hadn't really thought about it until she looked up and saw Dean staring appreciatively at her

"Damn Jane, you're still such an attractive woman."

"You say that like you're surprised"

"Well I just mean, you get so used to working with you, Detective Rizzoli, that I forget that you're also a very attractive woman regardless of your professional role"

"so you think my professional role makes me unattractive?"

"Jane, I'm not trying to pick a fight here. You're a great detective. You also are exceptionally beautiful. Those things needs not be mutually exclusive. I was just offering a compliment"

"gee thanks Dean" Jane blushed slightly, "and, ah, any chance of borrowing a Tshirt?"

"of course, I should have thought" he remarked as he rushed off and returned with a clean white T a few moments later. He handed it over. She caught the warmth of his hand slightly as he handed it to her, and looked up to see him looking at her appraisingly. "you know Jane, I'm so sorry things worked out between us as they did"

"don't Dean" she shrugged. "It is what it is"

She was taken by surprise as he suddenly reached up and ran his hand down her face and leaned in to kiss her. She felt herself respond and kiss back, the whisky in his breath mixing with hers. Through the drunkenness her mind whirred. Maybe she should just seek oblivion in some kind of pleasure of the flesh. But her head spun, and she couldn't breathe as she felt him push his lower body towards her and put a hand in the small of her back to push her hips towards his trousers which were starting to strain. "oh Jane" he moaned "it has been too long"

"no Dean, no"

She tried to pull away.

"C'mon Jane, it's no time to play hard to get now".

She couldn't work out if they stumbled together or he pushed her, but she suddenly found pushed over the arm of the couch and found herself lying on her back on the couch with Dean atop her, placing wet kisses along her neck. She shivered as she felt his stubble against the soft skin of her neck and felt nauseated.

"NO DEAN" she yelled. "GET OFF"

"C'mon Jane, stop being a cock tease" and he wiggled his hips in to her, making the bulge unpleasantly present to her.

There was a sickening crunch and pain shot through her left hand and up her arm. His nose began to bleed profusely. "shit Jane" he said as he got up and stumbled back.

She grabbed his Tshirt and ran out the door, and down the steps. On leaving the front step of the building she vomited profusely in to a bush. She felt literally sick to her stomach – not just nauseated but physically revolted. She patted down her work trousers. Thank goodness she had her keys, wallet and cell on her. She managed to find her way towards a busier street and hail a cab back to her quarters. She finally got up the stairs, and collapsed under the blankets, shivering and crying. Then remembered Maura and went and found herself a glass, drank two of water immediately, took another full glass back to the bed and collapsed back under the covers, whimpering towards sleep as the room whirled around her.

….

Jane woke the next morning after eight. She was in bed wearing crumpled work trousers. Her head hurt. Her body ached, especially her left hand which had nasty bruising across the knuckles. It hurt to flex it. And slowly the night before came back to her. She got up and vomited again. She cleaned her teeth, hopped in a blistering hot shower and eventually got herself out and dressed. What now? She made a very strong instant coffee, popped a couple of advil she found in her case, and picked up her mobile. Gee, she'd missed a lot of texts in her stupor.

She saw Dean's name roll up, and the nausea returned, along with a headache trying to work out how she was going to face work. Her phone showed a rolling preview of his messages which she realised were a series of profuse apologies. Missed goodnight texts from Maura. That brightened her slightly, before the guilty thought it was the first night she'd missed contacting Maura before bed that she'd been there. And inevitably a "call me Janey" from her Mother.'

She looked around and began shoving her things in her bag. She walked over to FBI headquarters and up to their floor. Dean saw her coming and ran out to meet her. "Rizzoli. Can we talk please?" and tried to usher her to an office.

"no thanks Agent Dean. Out here is fine for anything you need to say". She noticed the significant bruising around his left eye. She'd really got a decent hit in then. He looked dishevelled and his face looked sore. "okay then. Detective Rizzoli I am sorry my behaviour fell short of that I would expect of myself. My unreserved apologies. I wonder what I need to do to sort this. In case you have wondered, the commanding officer has asked me about my black eye. I have told him I drank too much and was inappropriately behaved and you put me back in line. I did not mention the full circumstances to protect your privacy, but I will if you prefer"

Jane let some of the rigidity she hadn't fully realised she was holding in her shoulders out. Thank goodness he was a gentleman in this at least – she realised she hadn't managed to process all the scenarios, but a lesser man may have blamed her, may have even had her up for assault – or tried to destroy her career.

"Dean, I just want to go back to Boston. The best you can do by me is smooth the process and make sure no hard feelings or difficulties with superiors follow me"

"Jane, I am sorry it has come to this - and sorry that you feel you need to go, but if that is what you want, absolutely. I will let Cavanaugh know I have released you from secondment. I do hope though if you have anything new, any new ideas you remain in contact"

Jane handed him her ID card and turned on her heel. She saw him hold his hand out to shake but made as if she hadn't seen it. She need not go that far. She went out, and hailed a cab to the airport.

Having placed herself standby for any seat to Boston she sat at the coffee shop at the airport. Her headache had improved with her third coffee of the morning but she couldn't shake the feeling of nausea. She still couldn't decide if that reflected her hangover, or the situation. She felt herself start to shiver again, and made herself stand up and walk through the shops trying to find anything to distract herself. It was a long day waiting for a seat, poor weather the day before having meant there were a number of passengers to be rebooked from the previous day that had to be seated before any new standby passengers.

Finally she heard an announcement "would standby passenger Rizzoli please present to the Delta airlines desk now". Fifteen minutes later she was on board waiting for the plane to finish take-off formalities.

Landing at Logan, jane grabbed her bag, made for a taxi and gave Marua's address.


	4. Chapter 4

Maura wriggled restlessly on the couch. She'd not heard from Jane last night, which was the first time since they'd been apart. She had been reminding herself it was likely Jane was just busy, or had found a friend or had forgotten to charge her phone. There were a myriad of possible reasons she hadn't replied. Maura couldn't help her mind going to sinister scenarios though. Between what had happened with Hoyt, and other work things, and then with Maura's current heightened security concerns, well who wouldn't worry? She'd found herself anxiously checking her phone all day everytime it chimed a new text. Never Jane. Then she foolishly asked Angela if she had heard from Jane – and whilst her heart had leapt when the phone chimed five minutes ago – it wasn't Jane. It was in fact Angela, anxiously enquiring after Jane.

Maura felt restless. She wasn't inclined to run after dark at the best of times, but knew she absolutely couldn't now. She had promised Korsak she would stick to the security precautions and not tire of them. It was so hard though. It felt like there was little room for spontaneity in her life – well unless it involved someone else so she had a companion. Except, usually Jane was her companion and she wasn't here and…she couldn't get back on this track again. She reminded herself Jane was away from friends and away from family, selflessly even, pushing on with the case at FBI headquarters, trying to solve it to keep her safe.

Maura startled when she heard a knock at the door. Her heart began to race. She picked up her cell phone, and brought up Korsak's number, ready to press dial if needed. She tentatively approached the door, carrying the phone, calling "who is it?". She looked through the peephole to see an exhausted and somewhat dishevelled Jane on the other side. She fumbled with the locks, and opened it. "oh Jane" she murmured as the detective staggered in and fell in to a hug with Maura, burying her face in Maura's neck. "Oh Maura, I'm so sorry" she murmured as Maura felt the warmth of tears against her neck.

Maura stood for a moment, gently stroking Jane's back. "Okay, let's get you inside, on the couch, and see what's happened." She manoeuvred Jane in, managing to leave the tall detective hidden in her neck whilst she re-secured the door. "Come on" she murmured as she lead her to the couch. She gently pushed Jane down on to the couch with her hands, then dropped herself down beside her, and tucked up against Jane's body. She could feel the tall detective relax her tension a little, but then as she relaxed, she felt the shivering begin. "Oh Jane, are you cold? I can get a blanket"

"No Maur, just hold me, I'm so sorry" Jane pleaded. Maura sat with her, gently stroking the back of Jane's head, Jane having returned her face in to Maura's neck, seemingly unable to make eye contact. Maura resisted the urge to ask endless questions, instead pushing as much of her body aginst Jane's as she could, hoping the body heat would help. Jane seemed well enough dressed, and Maura couldn't work out why she would be shivering from cold. Maura tried to still her wandering thoughts, which had led her to conclude that given how well clad Jane was for the weather, it was unlikely she was shivering due to low body temperature, and so the shivering likely related to distress. Along with the tearfulness, and that she was nuzzled in to Maura's neck, an intimacy she would seldom take. Maura tried to ground herself thinking about the warm body against her, the sensation of breath against her neck. But she couldn't stop her heart continuing to race as she wondered what had brought the detective to her door in this state. Another murder? Hoyt? Although she didn't see how Hoyt could appear again, but he certainly exposed Jane's vulnerabilities. Unable to hold her silence longer she asked "Jane can I get you a drink, food, do you need anything?"

"I just need to say I'm sorry Maur, so sorry". Maura continued to sit, wondering how to help the tall detective, wondering how long she should sit quietly and wait for Jane to explain her distress, or whether Jane needed help to get it out. "whatever it is Jane, we'll get through it, together" she asserted.

Eventually Jane stilled a little against her and seemed calmer. Maura's mind continued to debate but she decided at some point she needed to take charge and settle Jane.

"Jane, I'm going to get up now. And I am going to fix you a grilled cheese sandwich and get you a glass of juice or something stronger if you prefer. You can stay on the couch or come through to the kitchen and keep me company, okay?". Jane sat back a little and made glancing eye contact as she allowed Maura to get up. she hesitantly followed Maura to the kitchen, quietly watching Maura as Maura buttered some bread, and sliced some cheese to put in to the frying pan she had heating "I didn't think Maura Isles stooped to grilled cheese" she managed a half hearted jibe.

Maura smiled back warmly "there's a time and a place for everything Jane, and I'm not sure what is happening, but this seems like a time for grilled cheese". Jane looked up. She desperately wanted to comment to Maura that the worries she knew the doctor had about whether she could offer comfort given the absence of it in her own childhood were misplaced. To Jane she was comfort, and whilst Jane couldn't have identified it herself, the grilled cheese sandwich was perfect. She'd survived on coffee all day, she hadn't realised she was hungry until she had seen Maura fixing it for her, and it was just her Ma would have done, but without the annoying interrogation Ma would have provided as a soundtrack.

Jane drank the juice and after a couple of tentative nibbles, still not sure about her stomach, found herself wolfing down the grilled cheese sandwich. She found herself calmer and began explaining to Maura about the loneliness and frustration of the recent weeks, and then the ill-fated evening with Dean.

"and then he kissed me Maura, and at first it felt like it might be okay, through the whisky or something, or loneliness, but then I felt his stubble against me and it felt so wrong, felt so repulsive, felt like I was cheating on you and I couldn't" Jane paused, trying to collect her thoughts. Maura sat quietly, her hand on Jane's forearm. She squeezed gently. "Oh Maura, I'm so sorry, I let you down, getting so drunk, and letting him get started, and having him think that maybe, and me thinking that maybe, and then I couldn't get him to stop, and it felt so wrong, and I'm so sorry" Jane sobbed. She buried herself back in Maura's neck and wouldn't look up. Maura felt her heart racing in her chest, and anger pushing through her. What had that man done to her friend? She hadn't imagined Dean the sort to sexually assault, but then given enough alcohol people lost inhibitions, and as she knew from her work, offenders seldom looked like Monsters. Jane's sobs appeared to be reducing and she gently prompted her on "and then what happened Jane?".

Jane's usually husky voice seemed even more raspy with the tearfulness "and I asked him to stop, and he didn't, so I hit him" she held up her badly bruised and swollen left hand for Maura to inspect "Ouch?" Maura offered. "did you ice it Jane?"

"Yeah, ouch" Jane brightened a little "he doesn't look so great either – bit of a black eye today."

Jane stumbled through the rest of the story, the trip to FBI headquarters this morning, the wait for a plane. The trip to Maura's. She finished with "I'm so sorry Maura, I've let you down".

Maura grasped Jane's chin firmly and pulled her head to face her

"Jane Rizzoli, look at me. Jane. Don't look away. Don't make me use your middle name! Look at me. Jane you have nothing to be sorry for. People have a drink. People can be unsure about what they want. But no always means no. You said no, you stopped him. That was your right, you had no contract with him to do anything else. Jane you stood up for yourself and did what you needed to do. I'm so pleased you stopped it when you did and nothing more happened. And you have no need to apologise to me. On the one hand, if you want to go out and have sex with men, whether I like them or not, you're allowed to. That is your business as a grown woman. And also, if you don't, if you end up in an uncomfortable situation where someone won't do you the courtesy of listening, that isn't your fault either. Sex is always about consent. Always Jane. You needn't apologise to me or Dean for changing you mind". Maura thought she had done a good job of trying to work out why Jane wanted to keep apologising to her. Although logically she couldn't see why Jane would apologise to her specifically. Whilst she cared deeply for her best friend and didn't want to see her hurt or uncomfortable, she wasn't sure why Jane seemed to want her to accept an apology. She presumed it related to the shame and self blame that came with unwanted sexual advances for many women. Maura tried to think about what next "Jane if you want to talk more, we can talk more, but I wonder if we make sure you've had enough to eat, drink, get you in to something comfortable and get you in to bed?"

Jane murmured approval against her "Mmm"

"And Jane, please let me comfort you in my bed tonight. If you want to stay in the guest room I will respect that, but I just feel"

Jane looked up "careful Maur, you'll be having your intestines telling you things soon"

Maura smiled at Jane's wan attempt at humour, and took the lack of an outright no as a sign Jane would make it in to her bed. She would feel better knowing she could keep an eye on her unsettled friend.

…

Jane walked through to Maura's room. She quickly checked for a spare set of pyjamas Maura kept in a drawer for her and mentioned she would take a quick shower before bed. She felt so much better being back in Boston, and having Maura reassure her. And fortunately Maura hadn't chased the verbal slip of the tongue she had made when she referred to "cheating" on her. She couldn't imagine the embarrassment of confessing she felt like she was cheating on the…ah…fantasy life she had with her gorgeous friend. Where could you go with that? Anyway, she was now dried, dressed in clean pyjamas and went in and slipped under the covers. She nestled up against Maura's back and felt her familiar scent and body warmth soothe her. She felt like home. "Night Maur, I love you" she murmured as she fell in to a deep exhausted sleep against her friend.


	5. Chapter 5

The alarm beeped shrilly and Jane blinked several times trying to orientate herself. She could feel a lovely soft warmth against her and purred "Oh Maura" before realising with a start this wasn't a fantasy, but she was in fact in Maura's bed, with a real life Maura lying against her. "Ah, why do you have that damn thing set so early, and so loud, with such an unpleasant noise" she muttered as gruffly as she could, trying to cover her overfamiliar awakening.

Maura silenced the alarm and turned around smiling "did you get some sleep?"

"Yeah, out like a log all night, thanks Maur, I feel way better"

"So today?"

"Today, I will accompany you to the precinct. I need to get my car later. Just hoping you have some work clothes for me here" Jane said hopefully.

"are you sure Jane? Don't you think a day or two to"

Jane cut her off "To sit round getting bored? Nah. Besides, I want to go in and see what Frost and Korsak are up to".

Jane rode in with Maura in the prius. It felt nice to be getting back in something resembling her normal routine. As they separated so Maura could head off to the Morgue, she gripped Jane's bicep firmly and smiled warmly at her "it's so good to have you back Jane"

"Yeah Maur, catch you later" and Jane loped off, long limbed.

She arrived in the bullpen, where Frost and Korsak appeared to be watching something on Korsak's screen. They looked up, and looked surprised then smiled.

"Wow, hi Jane, are you back?"

Jane was about to reply when Cavanaugh walked in. "Rizzoli, my office, now"

Jane followed Cavanaugh back to his office

"So Rizzoli, tell me about it"

"Ah not much to tell chief. The case is difficult. I think Dean's right about there definitely being a series and a perp. But we probably can't progress things until he makes a mistake. So it is kind of waiting for him to strike again and hoping it isn't Maura, and I was starting to figure I'd be better back here"

"I think there is more to tell Rizzoli. Spill"

Jane looked up "Spill what chief?"

"C'mon Rizzoli, I'm no fool. I'm pleased to have you back. But secondments don't usually end with one days notice. I get a call yesterday from the FBI saying you're on your way back, you've been great yadda yadda, reducing task force immediately. You walk in with a swollen left hand, and my sources tell me Dean is sporting one heck of a shiner. What did he do?"

"Nothing to worry about"

"Rizzoli, if he has assaulted you, or came on to you, or heaven forbid sexually assaulted you, I simply won't stand for it. I will not have my female detectives treated like that – within my precinct, or anywhere else. You tell me what happened and I will support you entirely and take this up with senior officers at the FBI"

Jane stared at her shoes. Cavanaugh's support was kind but really she just wanted it all to go away. "ah, look lets leave it at we both had a bit too much to drink, there was a bit of a misunderstanding, it is now sorted, and I am pleased to be home"

"Rizzoli, look at me"

Jane pulled her eyes up

"You're absolutely sure you don't want this to go further? Because I will stand in your corner. "

"Yes Boss"

"Well can I just say I'm sorry? I wish this kind of stuff didn't happen. Now you, home for two days"

"what? Are you putting me on leave?"

"Whatever you want to call it. If you don't want me to call it leave I'll call it assignment. Your assignment is to your couch. I don't want to see you here for the next two days. Go home, cool your heels, take a break, and we'll see you back here on Thursday."

"But I'd prefer to catch up with the guys, and"

"Rizzoli, are you challenging my orders?"

"No sir". She stood and began to leave

"And Rizzoli, pleased to have you back. And I know I'm not the only one".

…..

Jane stalked down to the morgue. She was not pleased to be sent home, she just wanted to see everyone and get back in to life in Boston. But Maura reminded her that she could arrange to meet everyone at the Dirty Robber after work, and at the very least she could go for a run, walk Joe Friday and get up to date on her washing, and catch a few games. Maura smiled "only you Jane could grumble that the boss has told you to go home and take some time on his tab". Jane realised at this point she didn't know where Joe Friday was, and hadn't seen her since getting back. Maura explained that as Angela was home more than she had her in the guest house. "Oh shit, Ma. I haven't even told her I'm back. Do you think Cavanaugh will be annoyed if I go see her at the Division 1 Café?

…..

Jane found herself back in Maura's Prius riding in to the precinct on Thursday morning. Cavanaugh was right. She felt much better for a couple of days to put her thoughts in order, even if her instinct when it came to "processing things" was just to not, and keep going so she didn't have to. And her left hand was now moving freely. After suffering through some shrieking from Angela about worrying her and Maura, and some hugging about her being back home, and an overexcited hello from Joe Friday, and the guys enthusiasm to see her, Jane felt settled back in Boston. Well, she hadn't actually slept in her apartment yet, but she was settled in Maura's guest room. They hadn't really discussed that, but Maura seemed happy to have her around. She did need to make sure they talked about it sometime though.

…

Jane wandered in to the bullpen. Boston had gone through a blessedly quiet patch so far as homicides went, and Korsak and Frost reported they had a day of paperwork ahead unless there was a call. Jane offered to help. Korsak suggested they apply themselves for two hours, then meet to discuss progress on the medical examiner serial killer case over coffee. Frost asked if they should invite Maura to sit in. Aside from possibly being able to offer some insight from her professional expertise, they were only particularly interested in the case as it related to her. They decided that at the very least they could offer her an invitation and she could decide to come or not.

Maura arrived with a tray of coffees. Frost shot her a cheeky smile "I knew it was a good idea to invite you". They sat down discussing the FBI progress or lack thereof. Jane talked through the profilers opinion as she remembered it. Methodical. Professional. Male. Grudge against MEs. But organised and calm in executing that grudge.

Maura politely interrupted "did the profiler have any ideas about why someone would have a grudge against MEs?"

Jane looked up and laughed "do you find it hard to imagine Maur? You're all so loveable, how could anyone have a grudge against you?"

"Ha Ha Jane. But seriously, I am curious. As whilst many people know about MEs, very few actually come in contact with us day to day, beyond the bizarre versions of MEs they see on their TV screens. I don't pretend to have skill in profiling beyond doing some introductory reading, but when I think about why someone would struggle with MEs so much I am thinking either a) a ME did something terrible to them, or they perceive they did, such as they believe an ME messed up a case involving a close family member or b) someone in their life happened to be an ME and did something awful to them not related to the job, such as their abusive father was an ME, or c) they have some kind of professional grudge – a police officer, even a homicide detective say, or a lab staffer who thinks the ME gets too much credit or d) they see outsmarting the ME as the ultimate act of serial killing. Can I forensically outwit the forensic expert?"

Jane looked taken aback "Dr Isles, are you guessing?"

"Jane, I am theorising. Based on psychological principles. Not guessing. Are any of these along the lines of what the profiler suggested – if only to see if my thinking is close to theirs?"

"Well Maur, to be honest, I kind of drifted off a bit, as they get fairly boring after awhile, those profilers, all that talking and psychological theories and….." Jane looked slightly abashed "but your theories are interesting. I reckon we kick the ideas around a bit more and I can call the profiler and ask what they think."


	6. Chapter 6

Jane contacted the FBI profiler. She hesitated in making the call, wondering if Dean would have shut down her contacts within the FBI but was pleased to get a warm reception when she suggested a conference call between herself and Maura and the profiler. Enderlene, the profiler clarified that any further ideas they had would be relayed to Dean and it continued to be a team effort, but was happy to think through ideas with them.

Together they kept fixing on the extreme, controlled organisation of the killer, and their impeccably clean crime scenes along with Maura's ideas for underlying motivation.

Maura "you know I'm uncomfortable with a guess. But I am willing to talk about probabilities. If we think the four ideas I put forth are reasonable, if we combine those ideas with the methodical execution, do any seem more probable?"

Enderlene "this case is unusual in the cold, organised nature, the long time period between killings. If I had to choose, I'd run with C or D. We are presuming exceptional capacity in leaving a clean crime scene. Having a professional skill set in the area would help. In terms of D, if it is someone that sees the ME as the ultimate challenge, I guess they might have done any amount of research"

Jane "yeah, professional. We thought about professional hits but professional staff. So who would have the expertise needed? Homicide detectives? Another ME? Crime Scene Team Staff? You know, I keep wondering too about how they get access to the MEs house without a break in. Someone they know? Someone with a badge? I've seen the FBI searches. No one has been employed at the same three precincts or morgues associated with the MEs?"

Maura looked up "what if they didn't have the same name?"

"I don't think that's possible Maura. Most of your staff need qualifications don't they? And to be a beat cop you have to go through the academy. You can't just walk off the street and know how to do what you guys do"

"I was just thinking about those cases you hear about occasionally. Like that guy that got charged for impersonating a psychiatrist. He wasn't actually a psychiatrist, well he wasn't even a doctor. But he did have an undergraduate psychology degree, he had done some therapy training – so he knew enough to sound convincing. And then he faked a medical degree and managed to get some agency to employ him, it just took awhile for them to realise he didn't have an actual medical license. You'd think the checking was better. I am wondering how thorough my own office is checking techs. We ask to see their degrees. And we check with a reference. And in the interview we ask a number of questions to check they have a good understanding of forensic science. Say you were actually trained as a forensic tech (so once you got a job, your skills were great so no one would doubt you), if you just generated a degree and a false reference – are our systems robust enough to pick that up, or do we rely heavily on how someone comes across at interview and just use those later points to confirm what we expect to find?"

Enderlene chipped in "You know Dr Isles, those are interesting points. Could that kind of person fit the profile? Yes. In fact I can imagine this fitting a highly competent male tech who for some reason perceives they should have been the ME, not "just a tech" and is particularly enraged by a woman doing the job, and appearing to them to get credit for their scrupulousness. Would someone that thorough be able to leave little trace evidence and generate false identities? I think Yes"

Jane's husky voice slipped in "it's certainly an idea. I don't know how far fetched it is, but you're saying we should talk to Dean about looking through employee records for anyone starting work sometime before the ME was murdered, and presumably moving on shortly after the murder, to look to establish themselves in the new service of their next target?"

Enderlene "Yes"

Jane "And Maura, will you please get someone to double check any new hires in your service in the last – what in the last five months since the Hivers case? Just in case."

Maura murmured her assent

Jane "and could it be an officer? I don't reckon anyone can sign up under different names regardless of their skillset. There are clear links between the academy and your record. Computerised. They must check the computer records, you couldn't just forge a certificate right?"

Enderlene "beyond my expertise Rizzoli. Maybe a question for Dean to consider"

Jane "what about that crazy ME idea? Shall we chase that?" she smirked at Maura, whilst emphasising the phrase crazy ME.

Enderlene "conceivable. I could see a male ME who is much more average or maybe having questions raised about his competence feeling threatened by those women"

Jane "But would one ME just open the door to another ME? I mean Maura, I hope you'd think twice before opening the door to Popov, and you've met him a few times"

Maura "what if it were a male they'd met before. Like at a conference?"

Jane "so you meet a guy at a conference, and a few months later he turns up and you just open the door to him in the evening?"

Maura "when you put it like that, I'm not sure. When you say that it sounds creepy. I can't imagine I would just hand out my address to an acquaintance at a conference and rationally, why would an out of state ME suddenly turn up without calling? In that moment though, if there was someone knocking, I guess I would open the door if I was convinced they were who they said they were. I would worry about how they had known how to find me later." Her voice started to tail off "but of course, our man is so quick, there is no time to think about later"

Jane "exactly Maura, exactly why I keep telling you you need to be more cautious, keep that door locked…"

Enderlene "so you'll submit this to Dean as possible, but it seems a longshot. Just knocking on the door hoping for admittance seems a risk. They could have people there. They might not let you in. If it goes wrong, they know who you are and can identify you. That proprosed MO isn't consistent with the degree of organisation and planning we think we have"

Jane "and are we sure it is a professional?"

Enderlene "no. it isn't necessary for the profile. And we may just have a really smart killer who has read a lot about crime scene procedures. But, well I'll leave the investigating to you – but if we run with that idea, I can't see any ways that jump out to narrow it down further for you, and that leaves you with a giant pool of candidates"

Jane "Fair enough. Are we done here for today? If so, I can call Dean and pass on our ideas, limited as they might be, or Enderlene do you want to talk to the team there?"

"Easy Rizzoli. What suits?"

"I'll ring Dean, but obviously if you see him first, feel free to float the ideas"

….

Jane got caught up in a couple of queries from Korsak.

Her phone rang.

Dean's name popped up.

"Rizzoli"

"Afternoon Jane". Dean's voice sounded gruff

Jane quickly chipped in

"So you've spoken to Enderlene. I hope that was okay. I mean I am still keen to be part of the team, and you said to just keep working on"

"Jane, I'm not sure what you are talking about. I'm calling as we have just had word we have another. One of the five at-risk MEs we identified has been found murdered. In her home in Portland, simple ligature, no obvious clues on first look. We were notified within two hours of the body being found as the local lieutenant had been briefed in the same way we would expect Cavanaugh to tell us if something similar happened in Boston."

"Shit" Jane replied. "Shit"

"So Jane, I am assembling the team to fly out now. Anderson our ME is already in the air to assist the local ME with the assessment of the scene and autopsy. Do you want to join myself and the other agents on site? You know I consider you part of the team, and I can promise you I will treat you well"

Jane thought for a moment

"Dean, thanks but no. Last time I went as I thought I needed to keep busy. I think this time I need to stay here. I want to keep an eye on Dr Isles. I am really happy to stay involved though. Maybe I can videoconference some time? And this isn't the moment as you need to go right now, but if nothing pans out from that scene, Maura, Enderlene the profiler and I were talking this morning, and we have some other avenues. Nothing probable, but they seemed worth chasing if you weren't doing anything else"

"As you wish Jane. We'll miss your insights and hard work. But I understand. I want you kept in the loop. Take care of Dr Isles. We really don't want this to be five".

…..

Jane polished off three beers between arriving back to Maura's place with her, and finishing dinner. They were sitting on the couch reflecting on the situation.

"You know Maura, I don't know if I could go on without you" Jane murmured

Maura looked up

"what do you mean Jane?"and she looked with warm hazel eyes up at Jane.

"Damn Maura. It's just these women. And I imagine it being you. And I just…well you just…Maura Isles you make me feel like I have a purpose in being here. Half my thoughts reference to you. You're my best friend, and actually I think I might be in love with you". Jane sat stunned in silence. How much of that had come out loud? She tried to rewind – where did the speech end and the internal dialogue begin? Or was it all out loud?

"Yes Jane"

"Yes, ah what Maur"

"I've been wondering if you're in love with me or not, but I've never quite known how to ask"

"Ah well, I mean, I don't have to be in love with you, I mean I don't necessarily mean it like that, I mean if it makes you uncomfortable"

"Oh Jane, no it doesn't make me uncomfortable. I have just been wondering whether to share how deep my feelings for you go, but I didn't want to scare you"

Jane looked up hesitantly "so, ah, does this mean I could ask if I could kiss you Maura Isles?"

Maura smiled warmly at Jane. "so formal Jane Rizzoli. But yes, I would be delighted". Jane carefully reached out and ran her hand along the side of Maura's cheek as gently as she could. And then she dipped her head towards Maura's. Their lips met and Jane felt herself sigh with happiness. Right now she understood the idea of swooning for the first time.


	7. Chapter 7

And then at that moment, just after their lips touched, Joe Friday started to whimper at the door to the yard, and Jane's phone went simultaneously

"Oh shit" said Jane "I'd say fuck the phone right now, but I can't ignore Joe"

"Jane language!" admonished Maura. "You answer the phone. I will nip out with Joe."

Jane spoke briefly to Frankie, who was just checking in on her and Maura after the news of the next murder. She then went out to find Maura

"Maura, just Frankie. Come back to the couch" she got no reply. She walked out to the door and the yard. Joe ran back in to meet her "Maura?" "MAURA?"

Angela ran over from the guest house "is everything okay Jane?"

Jane began to feel increasingly panicked "have you seen Maura? She was just toileting Joe Friday, whilst I spoke to Frankie for barely a minute, and she's gone?"

Angela said she'd heard a few footsteps in the yard after she heard Maura encourage Joe to go outside, but thought maybe they'd had Frankie over. Jane ran through the house double checking the bathrooms before calling Cavanaugh in a panic.

"Boss, Maura's gone. She was here with me, she stepped in to the yard with Joe Friday and vanished".

"Okay Jane. We'll be there".

Jane called Korsak – she knew Cavanaugh would call him but she needed to hear him herself. And then she tried calling Dean. His cell went straight to voicemail. She wasn't sure if that meant he was busy, or more likely was in the air, en route to the other scene. She realised she hadn't even asked where the other scene was.

"Janey, come make a cup of coffee. You can think straight, wait for Korsak and Cavanaugh"

"Like trying to operate that fucking machine will help Ma. I will probably take my hand off or something"

"Jane Clementine Rizzoli. Language"

"Fuck Ma"

"Go to your room"

"What? What room? How? Where? How can you send me to my room?"

At that moment Angela heard someone come running up to the front door. She opened the door. "Vince. Thank goodness you're here. I have been trying to distract Jane whilst we waited by trying to send her to her room. I was running out of ideas."

Before Korsak could answer they heard the street fill with cars as Cavanaugh, Frost, Frankie and a couple of patrol cars Cavanaugh had summonsed arrived at once. The street was full of flashing lights, cars and activity.

Cavanaugh calmly took control

"Right, sit down everyone. Rizzoli brief me"

"Maura stepped out to let Joe Friday get some air in the backyard at ah the time Frankie phoned me. Looking at my cell, 2036 pm. I was distracted by the call. Ma states that she heard Maura talk to Joe Friday, then heard some heavy footfalls outside but nothing else. At 2039 approximately I realised Maura hadn't come inside and went out to look for her. I could not see any trace of her. Joe Friday came back inside. I have not heard from her since"

"Have you tried calling her?"

"Oh gosh, good point. No." She quickly flicked her phone to call Maura – but they soon heard a faint ringing sound from the couch.

"Well that rules out tracing her that way" Frost remarked

"Now Rizzoli" Cavanaugh looked at her and kept his voice gentle "any reason Dr Isles may have walked off? You guys have any argument or anything else I need to know about"

"No boss"

"Anything else unusual, upsetting or different about her behaviour tonight I should know about? We know she heard about the fourth murder today. Any other major things that may have a bearing on the situation"

Jane stood startled. Well kissing Maura was a major thing. A really major thing. But surely it wasn't related. Was there any chance Maura had run? Because if she had, this was a different situation. Jane realised she hadn't even considered it. She inwardly cursed her lack of professionalism. But if Maura hadn't run, the knowledge of what had happened to them that evening was something Jane wanted to keep close to herself and Maura for now. IT was immensely private. Hell, she hadn't even had a chance to discuss what it meant with Maura, let alone having to tell the whole precinct. And if Maura had run, how humiliating would that be. Jane continued to stand, things running through her mind. No idea what to say.

Korsak eventually inclinced his head towards Cavanaugh. "Are you okay if I take Jane to talk through the evening, you run the plan here. I'll let you know if there is anything else you need to know"

Cavanaugh nodded, and Korsak gently put his hand around Jane's elbow and lead her through to the guest room. He gently prodded her to sit on the bed.

"Jane, what happened tonight. You know this won't go any further than it needs to. But I know you. This isn't just shock. You need to trust me"

Jane looked up. He was right. She was desperate for her privacy, but she was even more desperate for Maura. And she knew that she couldn't think well enough to appraise the situation without help.

"I uh, I uh, I kissed her"

Korsak was gentle "and how did she respond to that Jane?"

"she seemed happy. Well she seemed okay. Like I asked her if I could. After we'd been talking. I didn't just push myself on her. And she said yes, and just as we did, just as I, just as I touched her lips, my phone rang, which I couldn't have cared less about. But Joe Friday started to whimper at the door. I did care about Joe messing Maura's carpet. So she got up, she indicated I should answer my phone whilst she let Joe Friday out, I saw her walk out to the yard with Joe Friday, and she looked relaxed. I thought she would be back in a couple of minutes and that we would…uh pick up where we had started" Jane looked downcast.

"Jane, anything else I should know"

"I told her I was in love with her"

Korsak smiled gently "and how did she take that?"

"she said she had deep feelings for me and I took it to mean she felt the same"

"Janey, I don't think there is any doubt she feels the same. Angela and I have been watching you two for years, wondering when you would both either work that out, or tell each other. I've never quite worked out where the stumbling block is. So, Jane, thinking back, you don't think she has run?"

"I don't know anything anymore Korsak"

"Well, Jane, in some ways I'd like to say she ran, because then we might find she runs on back in here in an hour or two once she has had a think. But sadly I don't think that is the case. From what I know of Dr Isles she isn't a runner. And, from what I have seen of you two, she would have no reason to run. Look, I know this is hard, but I need to let Cav know. I think he will be happy to keep it between you, me and him. But he will be running this operation, and I need to discuss the possibility with him. Jane, you know how discreet he is. He is so discreet he has never passed comment on the rumours in the precinct about you and Maura. But…."

"You know Korsak, a few weeks ago, I think he got as close as he ever does to telling me to do something about her. But you know me, chickenshit. And an awful love life. I mean I finally do this, I finally say something, it seems to go okay, and then I lose her"

"Jane. We don't know you've lost her. We are going to do everything to try and sort this." He gripped her shoulder warmly. "Everything Janey. She is one of us, a fellow officer. But for now, I need to go back through. You come when you're ready"

He looked surprised when Jane suddenly grabbed him and hugged him warmly. "I love you KOrsak"

"Hell Jane, you're not going to kiss me now are you?"

She laughed and punched him in the arm "you wish".

They went back through to the main part of the house. The patrols had been dispatched to sweep the neighbouring streets for any sign of Maura. Frost was checking the back yard and property for any evidence of who had been in the yard. Frankie was door-knocking neighbours, asking if anyone had seen or heard anything. Cavanaugh was on his phone. Angela was in the kitchen, cooking.

"Ma, what are you doing"

"The only thing I can do Jane. This may be a long night, and everyone out searching for our Maura will need warmth and sustenance. This is what I can do to help. And it helps occupy my mind"


	8. Chapter 8

The night seemed endless. There was no sign of Maura returning.

There appeared to be some scuff marks in the backyard, and at the gate round to the front, and Frost believed that she had been accosted and quickly removed from the property via that route and driven off. Unfortunately no one had heard or seen anything.

When Cavanaugh finally spoke to Agent Dean, Dean was surprised. He mentioned to Cavanaugh that he had been expecting they would have a fourth murder at some point, but one ME murdered and one disappearing within hours was unexpected. He asked if Cavanaugh wanted some of his team there. Cavanaugh suggested since it was now the wee hours of the morning that he and Dean talk more later in the day.

Cavanaugh tried to suggest Jane and the others get some sleep. He knew there was probably little point. There was now an alert out so all patrol officers were aware that the Chief Medical Examiner was missing. He was aware there was likely to be significant gossip soon, and maybe even media interest. Someone must link the dots soon. Medical examiners around the country must start to get frightened – whilst they weren't a small group, the more murders, the more there must be people who knew more than one victim and began to raise concerns.

Jane went out and spent a couple of hours driving around. She didn't have any real expectation she would see Maura, but she needed to feel like she was doing something. Angela eventually convinced her to come back to Maura's. She sat on the couch holding her cell. A couple of times she dozed off and then startled awake and peered at the phone.

The break of morning brought no news, and no Maura. Dean had contacted Cav and announced he was going to keep most of the team in Portland, where the new murder had been. Rodriguez was however going to come back from Portland to Boston to work with BPD, and the profiler, Enderlene was coming up from Washington. Maura's apparent abduction seemed outside the MO of the perp to date. Either the perp was escalating their pattern and taking more risks, or Maura's disappearance was coincidence or not directly related. Both seemed improbable. In that the chances of an ME being kidnapped at the same time as others were murdered being coincidence seemed low. But then Maura's disappearance also seemed out of place for the rest of the cases.

Cavanaugh had suggested Jane take the day off, but accepted she was never likely to take that suggestion. He stopped at saying "Rizzoli, if I get any sense that you not being able to have a professional distance jeopardises the case you'll be stood down. Else you can stay, but you follow my orders or those of Korsak to the letter. Anything you want to do outside orders, you run past one of us". Jane considered being indignant, but knew he meant for the best and she had to trust him and Korsak to get Maura home. She ended up volunteering to pick Rodriguez up from the airport.

She met Rodriguez off the 657pm delta flight that had come through Atlanta. Rodriquez looked her up and down. "Sheesh Rizzoli. You look worse than me, and I've just flown across the whole country"

Jane shrugged

Rodriguez looked at her appraisingly "Man, I'm sorry Rizzoli. Dean tells me you are really close to Dr Isles. It must be tough. Sorry to be insensitive. It is good to see you again, although not great circumstances"

Jane composed herself "yeah, now lets get you down to the precinct for a briefing. Enderlene has been here for a few hours now"

Jane asked if there was much news from Portland. Rodriguez commented that as she'd been out of contact on the cross country flight, Cavanaugh was probably better briefed than her. She'd arrived in Portland on the flight with Dean, so was notified of Maura's disappearance when Dean found out on landing. They had a briefing on arrival, but when it became clear this morning that there was no real sign of Maura, she had then gone fairly directly to the airport to fly back out.

Back at the precinct they discovered there was no new news. Jane offered to drop Rodriguez and Enderlene to their hotel, and collect them early the next morning. She realised she was only going to agitate the staff at headquarters, and thought she should check in on her Ma and try and get some rest, fitful as that might be.

Arriving at the precinct at 730am the next morning with Rodriguez and Enderlene and three large coffees, they went in for the morning briefing. There was still no sign of Maura. Jane tried to avoid thoughts of the first twenty four hours being crucial in finding people alive, and finding murderers and….

She realised she needed to keep alert and listen to the discussion rather than drift off in to awful what-ifs. Consensus seemed to be Maura's disappearance was unexpected in the context of the other cases. Enderlene didn't feel it fit the profile to date. She stated that she might have expected some escalation if there was some reason the killer felt less in control, such as that they had made a mistake in the Portland case. So far, word from Dean was that the Portland case looked as cleanly executed and perfectly planned as the previous three cases.

"It makes no sense why they would suddenly fly across country and try and grab Dr Isles. And if they did kidnap her with intent to murder, there are no previous attempts to hide the body. We should have found the body by now" Enderlene looked up as Jane made a small involuntary gasp "do you disagree Rizzoli?" she asked.

"ah no, sorry, just ah, breathed funny"

Korsak gave her shoulder a warm squeeze

Rodriquez looked up "do we even know if it is possible for one perp to have done it?"

Korsak "Grab Dr Isles? Yeah she is fairly fit, but petite"

Rodriguez "I was more thinking actually get across country in the necessary time frames. I mean I tried to get here yesterday and it seemed to take forever to find a set of connecting flights and then actually fly. Have we investigated whether it would be feasible?"

Frost "no. What is the estimated time of death of the Portland ME?"

Rodriquez "Dean says the two assessing MEs think in the range of 10pm and midnight Monday night, Portland time. So say you then complete that murder, then you need to get to the airport, get a flight (because this would be so rushed it seems unlikely to be pre-planned), get to Boston, disembark, find transport (and we are presuming she was taken away in a vehicle so you either need to rent, steal or have some other arrangement for a vehicle), locate Maura and be in position to grab her by 830pm Tuesday. Could it be done?"

Frost "checking flights now. I can't find any reasonable connecting flights out of Portland after 830pm. So earliest they could leave would be Tuesday morning. There is a 5am American Airlines flight routed through O'Hare which would arrive in Boston at 3pm. Gives you five hours to obtain a vehicle etc"

Rodriguez "are there other possibilities or only that flight?"

"United flights coming in at 343 pm and 513pm depending on the route, Alaska Airlines direct flight lands at 406pm"

Rodriguez "So it is possible, and we have too many planes to chase down the passenger manifest for each unless we are more sure it is the same perp?"

Frost looked up "your call I think. I can certainly look in to it if you would like."

Rodriguez "what else do we have? Anything from the house"

Korsak "no. Other than evidence of someone likely being carried through the gate due to some disturbance of the vegetation, no other evidence"

Rodriquez "so that fits our meticulous perp profile – excepting that this is a hot and risky take, rather than appearing cold and calculated and well prepared?"

Enderlene "are there any suggestions at all as to why there might be pressure leading to Dr Isles being taken now? If there are no mistakes at the Portland scene, have we had any sense Dr Isles knew something or may have been close to a breakthrough? Do we know what she was working on before she was taken?"

Jane "I can check with Suzie Chang, the senior criminologist. But it wouldn't be like Maura to be working on something without mentioning it. She is a team player."

Frost "she doesn't like to tell us what her guesses are though Jane. Maybe she…"

Jane "had a hypothesis she was confirming before sharing? Maybe. We know she is keen to avoid being seen to guess. But in this case, I reckon she would have said. I'll double check with Suzie though"


	9. Chapter 9

Maura came to groggily in the back of a van which was travelling quickly by her guess. Due to her feeling dazed, and the unfamiliar sensation of travelling in the darkened back of a van with her hands tied behind her, rather than sitting in a seat looking out, she found it hard to judge speed. But there certainly didn't seem to be any stopping at traffic lights or anything to suggest they were still within Boston.

Whilst the road may not have been particularly bumpy, being bounced around on the hard deck of the van, with her arms tied behind her back was uncomfortable, disorientating and she felt nauseous. She imagined she must have been administered something as well. As she thought back she remembered someone clamping a large hand across her mouth, a sharp prick of a needle in her deltoid muscle, and then being hefted up and carried away. She remembered struggling for a minute or so as they cleared the backyard and the gate, but didn't remember the van. What could act that quickly in intramuscular preparation she wondered? Midazolam? Ketamine? Some other anaesthetic agent?

As she was wondering, the van suddenly halted and she was throw forward towards the partition the driver sat in front of. She heard feet coming around and someone opening the door. A large man in a black beanie opened the door and looked in

"ah so you're awake then. Right, get up and follow me"

Maura uncomfortably wiggled herself to the back door of the van. Everything was hard with her arms behind her back. A large hand came forward and helped her stand as she pushed her legs over the back of the van.

She followed the large man in to a small building. She could see nothing else nearby, and realised they must be somewhere on the outskirts of Boston, or maybe a bit further, depending on how long she had been unconscious for. As her eyes adjusted to the gloom inside the small building, she saw there were several other men. This she was surprised by. She had presumed the man was acting alone. Serial killers occasionally acted as a pair. But a whole group? Way too much likelihood to make a mistake and leave evidence. As her eyes continued to adjust she exclaimed in astonishment

"You? Really?"

"Hello Maura" replied Paddy Doyle

"You're killing MEs? Why?"

Paddy looked up and smiled "Me? No. I'm not killing MEs Maura. But I heard someone was, and I heard there was no real progress in chasing down the killer, that you are on the small list of highly likely targets, and I reckoned I can keep you safer than the BPD. You don't really hear of serial killers grabbing their victims from the hands of the mob do you?"

Maura stared at him in astonishment "so you kidnapped me for my own protection?"

Paddy grinned "genius ay? No one is going to get you with these guys watching over you!"

Maura looked horrified "but what will Jane think?"

Doyle looked up "Rizzoli? Well she will think you've been taken, and that will be a bit stressful in the short term for her, but in the long term I think she will appreciate I just want to keep you safe. Which is all she wants too Maura."

Maura stood struggling to comprehend his logic. She could see his point in that no serial killer was likely to get her whilst she was held by Doyle's mob boys. But the killer might not act for months. What would she do for all that time? What would Jane do? What would everyone think? She looked at Paddy trying to work out what he wanted from her? Surely he didn't expect her to thank him? As she continued to look blank he smiled

"Look Maura, it was the only way. If you and Rizzoli knew what I had planned, the killer would know too. It had to be this way. But how about you sit down and we'll have a cup of coffee"

Maura unsteadily walked over to the offered chair and sat down

"How do you know anyway? This serial killer is on a limited knowledge basis even within BPD. Only ten people know, and I know all of them"

Doyle looked up enigmatically "I have my ways. I know what I need to know Maura. Now how do you want your coffee? I'm pretty limited here as you might imagine. I can do creamer and I can do sugar, else I can do black"

Maura sat sipping the strong black instant. It was far from her usual choice of coffee, but in the circumstances, holding the warm cup between her hands was comforting, and the caffeine seemed to be slowly reducing the fog in her mind that whatever the abductor had given her had left.

…..

"well Maura, if that's your decision, I will return you to Boston and the hands of Detective Rizzoli". Maura tried to look down to hide her blush. Paddy looked at her perceptively "Maura, is there something more going on between you and Detective Rizzoli than best friends?"

Maura sat quietly and Doyle continued "look Maura, if you have chosen the detective, I can accept that. I will never like that she is a cop, but I do like that she would die for you, or kill for you. For her I am not sure which would be the biggest sacrifice"

Maura continued to look down quietly

"Look Maura, all I need to know is that you, and I find it strange to say this to you of all people, but I need to know that your heart is not ruling your head here"

"I never thought I would say this to someone that had kidnapped me, but thank you for the thought. I thought we'd decided over these last two days, that no matter how well intentioned you are, this isn't the solution to keeping me safe. Jane and the BPD will hunt for me, and knowing Jane they will eventually find you and blow your safe house. And I can't sit here for months. Because that is how long it will take. I need to work. I need to see my friends and Bass. I need to live. And imagine what it will cost if you have two of your payroll guarding me 24/7 for months till they find this killer. That isn't a business proposition"

Doyle tried to remain gruff "You've never been a business proposition to me, Maura"

"I know that. But really, this isn't practical. And I appreciate you have shown that our precautions aren't enough. And once I return, I will talk with Jane and Korsak and Cavanaugh and take it more seriously, I promise"

"I hope I won't live to regret this Maura. You know what you mean to me"

"and I appreciate that. But I need to get back to my life"

"Yes Maura. Let's make it happen. I will call Rizzoli"

…..

"Rizzoli"

"Detective. It's Paddy Doyle. You'll find Maura sitting waiting for you at the Reedsdale Road entrance to Blue Hills Reservation. Please don't try to trace me or where she has been. She will explain. And Rizzoli, take care of her!"

The line cut off and Jane was left with a dial tone.


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: Thanks so much for the lovely reviews on the last chapter. It made my morning to find them. I ran myself very short of time to get it written before going on holiday, and wanted to make sure you weren't left hanging all that time, hence why it was so short.**

Jane leapt up "Frost, Korsak, car now, NOW".

Frost raised a quizzical eyebrow but grabbed his stuff and stood up.

Jane continued "Doyle says Maura will be there"

Korsak followed them at as fast a run as he could manage as Jane bounded out the door.

By the time Korsak got down to the garage Frost was in the drivers seat, and Jane was riding shotgun. He leaped in the backseat, closing the door as Frost started the car moving.

"Where are we off to Jane? And did you say Doyle?" he puffed

"Don't know Korsak. He just said Reedsdale Road entrance to Blue Hills Reservation and not to try and chase him. He hung up."

"so do you reckon he had Maura, or he found Maura, or someone gave him Maura?" Frost asked

"how would I know Frost?" Jane answered snappishly

Korsak added "Jane we want to see her back as bad as you do. Try not to grump. And, you don't think Doyle is playing us for any reason here? Wanting us out of the way or…."

Jane didn't want to consider that thought. In fact she hadn't even considered that thought. The only thought she had was how to get them there as fast as possible. A chill ran down her spine at the thought it was a hoax, and then she said, as much to reassure herself "Paddy might be a lot of things Korsak, but he loves his daughter. I can't see him ever using her disappearance as a pawn against us. I would say honor among thieves, but since we're on opposite sides that doesn't work. Anyway if it didn't involve Maura, I wouldn't trust Paddy, but since it does, we need to get there and make sure we're first to her. Can't ya go any faster Frost?"

Jane tried not to impatiently drum her fingers against the dash. She knew getting agitated in the seat wouldn't help Frost any, but sitting still waiting was hard.

As they passed through Milton, Jane started craning her neck anxiously peering out the windscreen at Reedsdale road.

Frost looked up quizzically. "Do you think he got the address wrong? I've realised we're hitting a T junction up ahead – I don't think there is a Reedsdale Road entrance to Blue Hills?"

Jane stared at him in a panic.

Korsak calmly suggested "look, Doyle may have been as stressed as us. Let's turn towards the reservation at the junction – he may have forgotten it is actually Randolph ave by the time you hit the reservation." He could sense Jane trying to contain her agitation in the front seat and hoped this was the case.

As Frost drove along Randolph Ave, they saw the low trees on the left hand side of the road. Jane suddenly shrieked "Left Frost, Left" and he saw a closed gate with a couple of small signs. He pulled through a gap across the oncoming traffic and as he brought the car to a stop, Jane leapt from the passenger seat and ran to enfold a small figure in a hug.

"Oh Maura, Maura" she murmured in to the top of Maura's head. She felt Maura shiver against her.

"Maura are you okay? Did they hurt you"

Maura hugged Jane tightly then pulled back to look at her. "No Jane. The facilities were a bit rudimentary but I was never at risk"

Jane looked confused "never at risk?"

"Paddy arranged my kidnapping for my own safety. But I talked him in to letting me go. It was a sweet gesture, but he can't keep me out of sight for months, I'd get far too bored", and she looked warmly at Jane "and I couldn't go without you for months".

Jane pressed her lips to Maura's forehead. "Oh Maur, I was so scared". She realised tears were running down her face and she discreetly rotated them slightly so she was facing away from the car. Though reminded herself maybe it didn't matter. Korsak and Frost were clearly trying to give them some space, but must be desperate to check in on Maura. She wiped her eyes and said

"c'mon, we better go show the guys you're okay. And let them check out your flash outfit"

Maura chuckled despite herself "Jane, I thought you said you had no interest in fashion, and yet..."

Jane smiled "Yet when my gorgeous clotheshorse is in a $20 pair of jeans and a purple pullover two sizes too big, I think even I can notice. You're still beautiful though. But I take it you didn't choose the clothes"

"Paddy sent one of his men to buy me something more comfortable than what I was wearing when they took me. And clean underwear. You really don't want to see the underwear. But clean polyester is clean I guess". Jane smiled as she saw Maura's involuntary shiver. And tried to avoid any further thoughts of Maura's underwear, reminding herself she had two colleagues standing metres away who must be desperate to hear what had been happening.

They walked over to Frost and Korsak and Maura smiled broadly and embraced them both warmly.

"Thank you for coming to get me"

Korsak looked her up and down "are you okay Maura?"

"yes, a bit tired and desperate to reassure everyone I am safe, but safe and well thank you"

Maura quickly explained Doyle's actions to them.

Korsak looked slightly bewildered before commenting "I guess you couldn't have been in much safer hands Maura, but goodness. A lot of people will be pleased to know you are safe and well. And we need to make better plans to keep you safe from now"

They hopped back in the car, Frost driving back to the precinct, Korsak discreetly grabbing the front seat, Jane smiling as she noticed he joked he called shotgun, but appreciated he was leaving them the chance to be in the back seat together.

Jane looked at Maura "do you want to go back to your place and change?" aware of how awkward Maura must feel in the completely misfitting outfit.

"Thank you Jane but no. I think I should go back to the lab and bag everything in case Cavanaugh thinks he needs it. Although I see no need to see this as a crime being committed, as I will not state he took me against my wishes"

"are you planning to lie to the court Dr Isles?" Jane feigned over the top astonishment

"not lie Jane, just indicate had he asked my consent I would have given it, therefore I don't believe there could be a crime. But until I have confirmed that with Cavanaugh I will treat this lovely ensemble as evidence. Once we have confirmed there is no investigation here we can donate it to a worthy cause."

"women with no fashion sense?"

"Haha Jane. I won't suggest we give it to you though, as I know you have your own inimitable sense of style. But I am sure someone will be pleased to have it. And I am pleased to know there is a hot shower and spare set of clothes waiting off my office. Now, call your family please".

Maura sat back, resting against the seat. Jane had Maura's left hand gripped tightly in her right hand, seeming not to want to let her out of her reach. Frost was driving and she could hear Korsak talking to, she presumed, Cavanaugh.

Jane called her Ma first so she had the excuse of needing to get off the phone to call Frankie once she had passed on the key news that Maura was safe. No further details at this time until they had discussed strategy with Cavanaugh. Frankie, knowing he was discreet, got the fuller version. And once that was done, she called Dean quickly, giving a quick rundown of the situation. He was also very pleased to hear that Maura's disappearance was only indirectly linked to the case.

….

Back at the BPD, Jane insisted that until they had formulated a plan, someone needed to accompany Maura everywhere, and as the female officer on team, it made more sense for her to sit outside Maura's shower door and keep her company, whilst she tidied herself up. She saw Korsak trying to suppress a wry smile beside her, and kicked his ankle, whilst glowering at him.

…

Maura got the giggles in the shower. "Goodness Jane. Needing to keep up this conversation to assure yourself I am here and safe behind the glass. Could you not just reassure yourself by watching my outline through the steam"

Jane coughed "I'm a professional Maur"

Maura continued giggling "I'm just not so used to a talkative Jane Rizzoli. Next you'll be sharing feelings or something as a way to fill the conversation, and I'll get to wondering if you have been replaced with an evil henchwoman whilst I had my eyes closed to shampoo. Although I am not sure anyone could do that voice the way you do it"

Jane smiled at Maura seeming so light-hearted "well if you keep Joking Dr Isles, I'll be thinking you got replaced by a cyborg. The real Maura Isles is still out there somewhere, and we have a cyborg which they accidentally programmed a sense of humour in to".

…..

They headed back up to the BRIC, Maura looking composed again in an elegant blouse and tailored trousers from her office supply, make up done, hair mostly dry. Cavanaugh invited them in to discuss the plans that the small team had made. Frankie was going to ensure a rumour spread amongst the uniforms that the search for Dr Isles was an embarrassing mistake between BPD and the Office of the Medical Examiner. Apparently Dr Isles had arranged a two day mini break, with Dr Popov for cover. Unfortunately the memo of her absence was not filed with the BPD, which was especially unfortunate as Dr Popov did not arrive as expected. Maura was horrified at the lie, but Jane could see the brilliance of the plan. Maura didn't need to lie herself, just state she could "neither confirm nor deny" when asked anything about it. If an official announcement was made to the BPD staff to explain her disappearance they risked publicity. But the uniforms would likely enjoy speculating on the no-show of Dr Popov and the embarrassment of the brass that they had set about on a woman-hunt whilst Dr Isles was off holidaying, wherever their imaginations took her.

Jane smirked "so long as none of them saw her enter the building in the $35 outfit. No one will believe she put herself in that willingly". Cavanaugh looked up "thank you Rizzoli, that will do. Now maybe it won't work, but we think this has a chance of keeping things quiet enough we don't tip off our perp that the FBI is aware of the pattern. Dean is hopeful. Moving on, security for Dr Isles needs to be improved. I am aware it was only a minute she was out of sight and we lost her, but it reasserts the need for constant vigilance. Korsak has suggested we get some uniforms down in the Morgue each day by offering enthusiastic uniforms the opportunity to spend a week at a time in the crime lab observing their work. They will get to accompany the ME to crime scenes in her vehicle, and we reckon we will get a few weeks worth at least of enthusiastic wannabe homicide detectives that volunteer. Outside of those shifts, we will have a plan to ensure Dr Isles isn't alone in the morgue. We will set up a computer for her with her files in BRIC if she wishes to work evenings. Out of hours autopsies will have a homicide detective or a uniform observing, depending on the case. Outside of work, I guess we need to talk about how much we can cover among this group, knowing that many of you do socialise with Dr Isles, or whether we need to expand the pool of staff in the know to provide a 24/7 roster."

Maura looked awkwardly at all of them "I am so sorry to be an inconvenience to you all."

Jane looked up "Maura, you are a good friend to all of us. This is what friends do. Many of us rather like your company anyway. Look how about I do this evening and tonight, and we get together tomorrow and draw up a draft for the week? I can do much of it, if Dr Isles is happy to have me stay at her place, and if I don't need to do any new cases that involve working at night"

Cavanaugh smiled "in the interim Rizzoli, I think you can be assigned our FBI liaison and off other active murder cases. How about we do that – you take Dr Isles home tonight, and we'll talk more tomorrow?".

…..

Maura sat on the couch, snugly tucked in to Jane's armpit

"Oh Jane, I am so pleased to be here. For one thing, I feel so much better having had a vegetable based dinner. Doyle's men didn't really see vegetables as key for a captive. And that is very unfortunate because given the lack of a chance to generate vitamin D due to lack of sunlight, and reduced opportunities to exercise, a healthy diet really is so important…"

"Oh Maur, I love you" Jane murmured "but I'm not sure Doyle's henchmen would be keen to read a treatise on healthy care of your kidnappee by Dr Isles. Although, I am wondering, you know how there is Stockholm syndrome, if the kidnappers were in fact stuck with you for six months, do you think you would have them eating vegetables by the end of it?"

"well, I have noticed some small changes in your behaviour when it comes to eating green things"

"yeah, but I might be motivated by hoping to get lucky" Jane smirked

"and you don't think I would have any appeal to Doyle's men?"

"C'mon Maur, you're way too classy for them. Anyway, let's go to bed" jane flushed heavily "I mean just to cuddle. I just want to lie with you and get a decent night's sleep." Maura looked at her and Jane stammered on "I mean I do want to do other things with you…ah sometime…but um when it is right….and you're not exhausted, and I have at least managed to take you on a date and…"

"Okay Sir Galahad. Lead me to the bedchamber, and keep my honour intact" Maura giggled.

Jane did a quick recheck of all the locks and security for the house and then followed Maura to Maura's bedroom. "I presumed I might be in your bed tonight?" she asked quietly "for, ah, security reasons"

Maura who was slipping in to her pyjamas smiled warmly "come be my security blanket detective".


	11. Chapter 11

Maura woke the next morning, having slept soundly being back in the comfort of her own bed. As she groggily came to, she smiled as she saw the lean figure lying in reach. Dark curls fell across the pillow. She was tempted to reach out and touch, and maybe caress Jane awake, but as much as she wanted to do that, she had been concerned the previous evening by how tired Jane looked. She decided to pull herself away from temptation and leave Jane to sleep a little longer. Maura prepared breakfast for them and then went back through to the bedroom and gently kissed Jane on the forehead, then the lips, then the cheek, finally concluded Jane was so deeply asleep she wouldn't be waking with a gentle kiss. After also discarding her original idea of caressing her awake aside when several strokes of her arm just seemed to leave Jane snuggling further in to the bed, she resorted to calling her name whilst gently shaking her shoulder. Any feelings of being let down they didn't have a wake up scene worthy of a movie were put aside when, as Jane's eyes focussed as she woke she suddenly saw Maura and smiled broadly. Maura was sure no one had even shown such pure joy to see her.

"Morning Maur", Jane's voice was even more husky first thing in the morning

"Morning yourself, sleepyhead"

"C'm here" Jane invited, opening her arms wide.

Maura debated momentarily "Jane I would love to, but if I hop in that bed with you and cuddle, I really won't want to get out, and we are already cutting it fine to be on time. I have your breakfast all laid out"

Jane looked disappointed

"But Jane" Maura continued, "the great news is it is Friday, so today we work, tonight we go to the robber, and tomorrow morning we have nowhere to be and can stay in bed as long as you like"

Jane brightened "And tomorrow night, can I ask you on a date Dr Isles?"

Maura smiled, feeling almost giddy "why you most certainly can, Detective Rizzoli, but right now, it is time for breakfast." And she quickly headed out of the room. Jane tried to keep her eyes off her sashaying bottom in short silk sleep shorts.

…

They split up once at the precinct to establish what was new in their respective domains. Maura was pleased that everything seemed just fine down in the Mortuary. They had managed to get a competent short term locum to cover her unexpected non-appearance, and Susie had taken care of everything else. So long as she didn't have to "manage" Dr Pike, Susie could manage most things. It had been a quiet night in Boston suspiscious deaths wise, so Maura had only some paperwork that needed her attention.

…

Jane was feeling restless up in the bullpen. As Cavanaugh had taken her off everything else currently she was meant to continue to focus on the ME situation. Enderlene and Rodriguez had made the immediate decision to go once they heard she was safe, and were now with the rest of the team in Portland. Jane looked impatiently at her watch. 845am in Boston was 545am in Portland. She couldn't call anyone yet just to ask what was happening. She should wait another two hours at least, and three- four hours was probably more polite. She went round to see what Korsak and Frost were up to. With Boston having had a quiet few days for homicides, they like Maura were mainly catching up on paperwork. Korsak looked up and watched her pace around the desks. "Loose end Jane?"

"Yeah"

"shall we go for coffee?"

"any more coffee and I'll never be able to sit still"

"donuts?"

"watching you stuff yourself with Donuts, Korsak? Not my kind of date"

Korsak looked up her and smiled impishly "so shall I start asking what your kind of date is Jane?"

At this Frost looked up with interest and Jane glowered at Korsak "c'mon. there must be something useful we can do?"

Korsak "look, we don't have much on either. Why don't you see if Maura is free and we all get together at 10am and see if anyone has had any new thoughts in the last few days. We've been so focussed on finding Maura, but maybe someone has had a passing thought or a new way of looking at things that they left because of the urgency of finding Maura. Worth a shot? Jane, why don't you catch up on any briefing materials the FBI have sent through in the interim?"

"I've already read those Korsak"

"cool so summarise for me"

"okay, maybe not so well I can summarise for you. I'll go prepare"

"will you invite Maura, or shall I"

"ah, I'll do that" Jane smiled.

….

Korsak led their small team talk. "Jane. News from Portland?"

"So, victim was on the short list of at risk medical examiners. Gloria Stuart. 43. Single. Seen as a national-level expert in the matching of bruising patterns to blunt force weapons". Jane was distracted by Maura nodding "yes, I read an excellent paper of hers in the annals on…."suddenly Maura tailed off "..but that's so sad isn't it? So talented, and maybe dead because of it?"

Jane continued somberly "Dr Stuart was known to be an enthusiastic user of her outdoor hot tub, which she swore by using nightly to relax her body for sleep. She was found lying by the tub with the cover off. Ligature strangulation. Again, seems as though it was quick, there was no real struggle, no sexual assault. Time of death estimated at around 10pm, but the ME reported that was even more a guess than usual, depending on whether her body temp may have been raised if she was murdered just as she hopped out of the tub. Her front door was locked and secured. She had been escorted home by a member of the small team the local police had assigned to oversee her safety at around seven pm – who swept the house and ensured she locked up the front door as he left. Presumption is the perp came around through the side gate, and seemed to expect she would be in the tub"

"any slip ups, trace evidence?"

"no. a fibre near the gate, but not confirmed as related, and thought to come from a common brand of Walmart polo shirts, of which there are thousands around the country. Again a possible shoe print, but seemed a brand new, size 10 walmart house brand. Not the most common shoe in the united states, but not distinctive in any way"

Frost grinned "bags not being the guy who sits through thousands of hours of quality Walmart video trying to decide "Fashion Crime or Serial Killer disguise"?"

He lost the grin as everyone stared at him "yeah, sorry, not so funny"

Korsak "so if she was known to use the hot tub, does it look like the perp knew that? Like it was another well planned attack – knew they wouldn't need access to the house, knew she would be alone and vulnerable in the back yard?"

Jane "well there is no indication the house was broken in to. Maybe they were going around the back to see if there was an easy access in and found her by chance, but yeah, could be that they knew she would be there and vulnerable"

Maura "Jane, did Dean get those checks run on whether there were any staff of a similar profile joining each MEs lab in the time gap between each killing?"

Jane "I think we all got distracted by a certain missing ME Maura. I'll ask him again. Any other ideas team?"

…..

Whilst the others went back to their various tasks, Jane kept thinking about the ME killer. Late in the day, she got a call from Rodriquez who had had an analyst follow up on Maura's question. Rodriquez sounded cautiously optimistic. In each case a male criminologist in the 35-45 age band had been employed in the office of the ME. In each case, starting after the date of the prior killing, and suddenly leaving and disappearing within days of the new killing. The names given varied, but the first run through the databases suggested that the few months this person had been using the assigned social security number was the only time the number had earnt taxable income in years. So expectations were they would be found to be assumed identities. Jane realised there was still a lot of checking to do, to try and establish whether it might be a solid lead. She realised there was nothing more for her to be doing that day and went down to the Morgue.

She smiled as she walked in to Maura's office and saw Maura head down, peering at paperwork. Maura looked up at her and smiled back. Jane's heart lurched. "Hey you" she husked, "not just beautiful, but smart too" she continued "your criminologist theory looks like a possible. They have found a couple of probable assumed identities fitting the time frames that could be the same person"

"So, what next?" Maura asked

"Well they will try and chase down these identities, try and work out if they are assumed, and if so, whether it might be the same person. Then try and work out who that person is. Hopefully find a mistake there. At the very least, there must be some security footage from the labs so we can get a picture. If it is one person, it seems highly likely to be our perp – why else would you impersonate a criminologist?"

"Some people enjoy the excitement of assuming identities of authority, the feeling of special knowledge of covert operations" Maura began

"but, why keep moving? And how could you have the coincidence of appearing just before an ME dies repeatedly"

"I agree Jane, the perp seems more likely, you just asked why you would impersonate a criminologist and I answered" Maura smiled.

Jane grabbed her round the waist and firmly kissed her "Gosh I love you when you're so dorkily adorable".

Maura pushed her off "Careful Jane, we don't want gossip round the precinct yet, and also, dork is a term for..."

"Okay, okay, okay" Jane laughed. "please, no lecture. I'm sorry. But you are adorable"

"back to the case Jane, once you have the picture, then what?"

"well hopefully we find the slip amongst the identities that gives us an actual identity and location"

"and if you don't?"

"well at least we will have a picture"

"ooh, I could go undercover. Advertise for a new criminologist in my lab?"

"Maur, I'm not sure you can say you're going undercover if you are planning to be yourself. Dr Maura Isles undercover as….Dr Maura Isles. I think you're referring to a trap"

"Oh but we need to avoid entrapment?"

"No. In this case, we would be laying a trap to have him come out of hiding. Entrapment which is illegal, is where you incite someone to commit a crime. We aren't allowed to do that. But we will hopefully be able to get this guy to confess if we can find him. Or maybe we will get a lucky break with evidence he has left somewhere once we have him. But I am not sure I like the idea of you putting yourself at any more risk Maura. Luring him out. Let's hope it doesn't come to that"


	12. Chapter 12

Jane sat down "so can I wait here to escort you to the robber, or do you want me to go on ahead?"

"Is this you asking me on a date, detective?" Maura smiled.

"No Maur. We agreed I'll take you on a date tomorrow remember. Tonight is just friendly Jane offering to keep you company en route to the robber"

"What if I don't want just friendly?" Maura said with a playful grin

"Well friendly is what you get m'dear. We do things properly when we do them Rizzoli-style. So are you done here?"

"I think I have lost concentration whether I should be done or not, Jane. Give me a few moments to tidy up and I will be right with you".

….

As much as she had been looking forward to getting to the Robber, Jane was only midway through her first beer when she felt extremely tired and a headache starting. The recent busy times felt like they had caught up with her as soon as she started to relax. She looked up to see Maura looking wan and staring at her wine glass, not seeming to do any better at following the conversation than Jane had been.

"Maur, do you want to stay, or just pick up a takeaway on the way home and call it an early night?" Maura looked relieved at being given the option and smiled at Jane "home please, I'm more tired than I thought".

Having made their goodbyes, they picked up Thai on their way back to Maura's, and Jane watched Maura almost nodding off on finishing her dinner.

"You go on up to bed and I will tidy up here" she smiled to Maura

"Only if you promise you will join me"

Jane thought she'd been quick tidying, but by the time she got to Maura's room she was sound asleep in the bed. Jane briefly wondered whether she could take the liberty of cuddling up to her, quickly concluding whilst she didn't want to invade her personal space, Maura had been very keen for her to be in the bed and was sure she was inviting her to cuddle again. Jane put an arm around her and after thinking how warm and comfortable and right it felt to snuggles against her she was suddenly discombobulated by noises from the end of the bed. She startled, wondering about an intruder, before realising it was Maura trying to slip out of the bedroom. She could see sunlight peeking in under the curtains.

"hmm, come back, give me a proper cuddle" she husked to Maura.

Maura sighed "oh Jane, I tried not to wake you"

"that's okay – you can make it up by coming back in here with me"

Maura slipped back under the covers, shimmying back to rest her back against Jane's stomach, and enjoyed long, limber limbs stretching around her

"mmhmm, that's better" Jane smiled

They lay snuggled together, quietly chatting and cuddled up until eventually hunger got the better of Maura who insisted she needed to get up to make breakfast.

"so Jane, what are we doing for our date tonight?" Maura asked excitedly over her coffee

"surprise my dear"

"but how shall I know what to wear?"

"definitely casual, jeans, sensible shoes perhaps?"

"is this a bad joke Jane?"

"No. Maura I figured I couldn't possibly compete with those rich guys who know lots about food who wine and dine you, so instead of going somewhere fancy, I figured you could do with some relaxing"

"ooh, a spa. What a brilliant idea Jane"

"ah, are you guessing Dr Isles?" Jane asked "and if so, this would be why you discourage guessing. Because you're wrong" she looked hesitantly "maybe this wasn't such a good idea, maybe you should just tell me what to do and I'll book for us."

"oh Jane, I will love whatever you've planned to do. I'm sorry, just overexcited. And I'd wanted to dress up for you" Maura added with a touch of the coquettish.

Jane looked up "Maur, you look beautiful to me in anything. Anyways I see lots of you in those fancy dresses and clacking heels all week. I quite like to see your more casual side on the weekend – I want you to be comfortable with me"

"Well Jane, if you put in the Scholl pads that I told you about in, I do think you will find the heels more comfortable than you realise and…" she stopped as she looked at Jane who appeared mildly amused. "yip, got it. Casual. So does casual mean no heels at all?"

"Maur, if you really want to wear heels, wear heels but I'm not sure anyone will appreciate them"

"But Jane, they amplify contractions of my gluteus maximus and gastrocnemius and"

Maura blushed slightly as Jane laughed "Yep, Maura I think you have a cute caboose whatever position you're in" which then lead to Jane blushing at the mention of positions.

"maybe gait was the word you wanted rather than position, Jane" Maura smirked.

….

Jane had arranged for Korsak to provide the police presence with Maura whilst she went home for a few hours in the middle of the day to make some arrangements, and get some clean clothes. Frost, Frankie and a number of others had offered to help out for the weekend but Jane had made clear she expected to personally do this weekend. When it came to getting someone to give her a few hours, she had decided as Korsak already knew there was something happening between her and Maura he would be the best choice. She got back to Maura's and knocked on the door.

Angela answered, looking confused "Janey, why would you be knocking on the door?"

"ah manners Ma, and because I didn't want to freak out the guard…her voice tailed off as she saw Korsak happily waving from in front of the big screen, where he seemed to be watching a game and drinking a beer. "is this you on duty Korsak?" Jane asked acerbically.

"just one beer Jane, my reflexes are good. What – did you want me to have her in line of sight whilst she applied her makeup or something? I'd drive her nuts Rizzoli."

"Cool, I've got it from here then guys" Jane said as she started to nervously fiddle with the tea caddies on Maura's bench.

"Sit down and watch some game with me Jane whilst you wait" Korsak offered "look the patriots are…."

Korsak stopped mid sentence as Jane scowled at him and said "I said I have GOT it from HERE"

"Okay Jane, cheers. I'll just finish my beer and I'll be on my way"

After a dirty look from Jane he hastily added "in fact, I'm feeling quite thirsty" and threw back the rest of the beer.

"Great, and you can go too Ma" Jane added as Korsak picked up his coat

"I'm good Janey, I just thought I might use Maura's oven to make her up a big batch of lasagna for the fridge, you know for all the people who might be round on guard duty"

"No Ma". Jane looked around with increasing agitation. She felt nervous enough. This was far too much like being picked up for a date as a teenager, in front of her nosy parents. She could of hugged Korsak when he read the situation and cheerily said to Angela "any plans for tonight Angela, or could I convince a beautiful lady to start her Saturday night with me at the bistro round the corner?"

"Oh Vince" Angela giggled "how could I turn down someone with charm like that?" and appeared to be glowing as Korsak shepherded her through to the guest house.

Jane sat for a few moments enjoying the quiet before the restlessness began again. She wasn't sure etiquette when picking up one's long term best friend for a date.

"Ah Maura, I'm here" she called.

"Grab a drink Jane, I'll just be a couple of minutes" she heard Maura call back.

Jane sat, then paced up and down and then suddenly stopped in her tracks as she saw Maura emerge wearing a pair of dark blue jeans so dark they were nearly black, and so tight they appeared nearly painted on, with a soft teal sweater over top. Maura was wearing her hair out in soft waves, and she had applied understated makeup. At this point she was barefoot, and padded out smiling, and stood up on tip toes to kiss Jane on the cheek. "good evening my darling. Will this do?"

Jane swallowed loudly "ah yes, it will do Maura, just so long as you can move about in those, ah jeans"

Maura immediately turned to have her back to Jane, then appeared to fold herself in half, bending from the waist to touch her toes in front.

"Flexible enough Jane?" she asked as she popped back up.

"oh my goodness" Jane choked out. Maura couldn't have been unaware of the impact of her manoeuvre on Jane who was now blushing. "You look gorgeous Maur, and that, ah, yoga seems to be paying off"

Maura came back up and looked appraisingly at Jane who had changed in to a clean pale blue button down above her tidiest blue jeans. She grapped Jane by the button placket and gently pulled her towards her, kissing her on the mouth before adding "you scrub up pretty well yourself detective", and then releasing the slightly startled Jane. She skipped off to return with a pair of cream heels in one hand, and a pair of lace up sneakers in a soft suede that nearly matched the sweater and held them out to Jane "which will suit your plans best?"

Jane pointed at the sneakers and Maura smiled "is that just because you like the feeling of towering over me?". She looked at the flushing Jane and then said "I'll stop teasing. I'm ready when you are, in fact I can't wait"

Maura chatted excitedly as Jane drove to their unspecified destination. They pulled in a to a large carpark by what looked like a large warehouse building, and Maura looked around perplexed until she finally saw a sign saying "Bowling Alley"

"A bowling alley Jane?" she asked

"Uh, yeah. If that's like okay with you?" Jane asked nervously. She added in a hurry "I just figured at that fancy boarding school in France you mighta missed out on the classic American teenage date – bowling and a burger, and I ah, I thought it might be fun"

"Oh Jane, I love you" Maura commented before seeing Jane look even more startled "well Jane, I mean love you as the best friend I've ever had. I won't commit to more at this point, because I know we're just trying this date thing"

"so you don't mind it isn't fancy?"

"Jane, this is why you are the most amazing thing to come in to my life. Even as a teenager I felt like half the dates I was taken on were designed for the middle-aged – and to impress those around us "Oh I took Maura to Chez Gastronimoque" rather than thinking about just enjoying time with me. So, yes, I am very open to having fun with you"

Jane smiled broadly "great, so lets go bowl Maura. Can I just ask, do you want me to be gentlemanly and not obliterate you in the game, or will you be impressed if I show the full extent of my prowess?"

Maura laughed "give me your best shot. I have a secret thing for Jocks".

As Jane had predicted to herself, the alley was full of young men trying to impress young women they were with. They ranged from the pimply young men looking pleased to have found a date, through to the muscular jocks, who appeared to be oozing testosterone in to the surrounding lanes, trying to fire the heaviest balls down the lanes with speed clearly being prized over accuracy. Jane and Maura were certainly out of place in terms of age, but Jane wasn't sure she was out of place when compared with some of the nervous male suitors. Once she got a ball in hand though, Jane's natural confidence when faced with athletic tasks returned. She smiled as Maura happily watched each ball roll down the lane and commented on their velocity and weight to power ratio and ran her arm along Jane's forearm commenting on the distance to the fulcrum of her elbow, seemingly so entranced by the biomechanics of bowling she didn't notice the effect her hand had. Jane enjoyed Maura's admiring comments at her scoring in the game, easily heading out to a twenty three point lead over the first five frames. When Maura got a strike on the sixth frame Jane jubilantly hugged her and enjoyed her excitement, and didn't pay too much attention to Maura's happy account of the mechanical forces that had allowed the feat. When Maura got another strike the following frame she was a bit less jubilant, and by the third consecutive strike there was a lot less swagger in Jane's walk up to the alley, and Maura noticed a very determined set to her jaw. When Maura's next ball suddenly veered off in to the gutter, Jane looked up quizzically, and Maura responded to say her arm was tired. Jane couldn't work out whether that was the case as she reported she wanted to keep playing and denied needing ice or massage, or whether Maura had taken the line of many a girlfriend realising it didn't do to outplay your suitor who likes to rate their own sporting prowess on the first date.

Regardless they had a lovely time bowling and observing the mating rituals of the American teen. Jane won the bowling by twelve points, but was suspicious she might not do so well in a rematch given Maura's rapid improvement.

She walked Maura out to the car, her arm linked through Maura's elbow. "We have a bit of a drive I'm sorry" Jane remarked "trying to find a diner that did a burger that wouldn't cause you to worry about your cholesterol took a bit of work, and will be a few extra kilometres."

Maura laughed "given the incomplete neurodevelopment of the teenage brain, and the tendency for novelty seeking to outweigh excecutive functioning and hence forward planning, I can't imagine any of them consider the long term health benefits of their date choices, Jane"

"And mainly, since they've begged their Dad's car, they don't want to use too much gas eh?" Jane smiled back "but I don't want you to feel uncomfortable eating something Maura".

Jane had found a great new diner that had classic sixties décor but a very modern take on the menu. Jane was unsurprised when Maura chose the "Health-nut" burger – a quinoa and cashew pattie, with beetroot relish, argula and tomato on a whole-wheat bun. Jane found her lean cheeseburger lost nothing on its fattier brethren and the oven baked sweet potato and potato wedges with housemade sauce were delicious. Maura was entranced by the drinks menu, trying to decide between the chia and cacao raw milkshake, or the no-added-refined-sugar fruit based smoothies.

Maura smiled "you are so exceptionally thoughtful Jane Rizzoli"

"yeah, first date to take you to such a downmarket venue for a first date"

"first date to think so hard about me, Jane" Maura smiled.

Having decided to share a healthy take on a sundae, loaded with fresh fruit rather than sugary sauces, and all natural ice cream Maura smiled at Jane and said "and now I think you'd better take me home"

Jane swallowed hard "is your Dad waiting up for your curfew Ms Isles?"

Maura smiled "I'm pleased to announce I don't have a curfew or a father waiting at home. But I would like to be somewhere more private with you"


	13. Chapter 13

**AN: Many thanks for your continued interest. I got a bit stuck on writing the date of all things, so appreciated the kind comments about the last chapter. Hopefully I can push on now and get this finished.**

Maura woke naked, aware of a strong feeling of contentment. She stretched a little before suddenly seeing the sight of Jane Rizzoli's mane of dark hair all over the other pillow, and smiled as recollections of the night before came back to her.

Jane had seemed so anxious and tense driving home. Maura knew she didn't like talking about sex, and thought it was best not to say anything. So she happily chatted about anything that came to mind as Jane carefully steered them towards Maura's home. Maura had been musing for months on what the difference was between a "relationship" and passionate platonic love. It seemed odd in some ways that sexual attraction was needed to make a relationship – she and Jane were clearly closer than some married couples in all ways beyond being physically intimate. On the one hand she understood the evolutionary theories that humans made love at times other than ovulation as a way of holding the pair bond together, presumably for the good of the offspring. But then how did that apply to two women? Whenever she got to thinking like this, she then began to wonder if human relationships were this opaque to absolutely everyone. What she did know is that she found Jane Rizzoli very attractive. As she'd said "you're gorgeous my friend", and that the more she knew of Jane, the more she adored her, the more attractive she found her. As well as Jane's assertion she felt she had fallen in love with Maura, Maura was fairly sure that Jane also found her attractive – there was something physical there beyond just a desire to spend time together and care for each other. Jane's response to her bending over in front of her in her tight jeans earlier in the evening seemed good evidence of that. But she had no idea how they got through this next bit. Because when Maura dated a bloke, the decision was "do I like him enough to take him to bed yet?", enjoying the chance for some physical release and not thinking too hard about where to next, never expecting they would stay around long term once they got past her physical attractiveness. Too many men being put off by her brain and quirks had made her wary about hoping for a long term relationship. But this wasn't some guy who would just be an hopefully adequate diversion under the sheets for as long as he hung around. This was Jane, and Maura really didn't want to mess things up with her. Their friendship was by far the longest significant relationship Maura had had with anyone, and she didn't want to lose that. And knowing Jane tended to not be open about her sexual interests, and presuming Jane probably hadn't been with a woman and would be nervous about that, and knowing she had a tendency to run, and finally, knowing how desperate Jane seemed to get this right, anxiously wanting to treat Maura perfectly….well with all that it was hard to know what to do. If worst came to worst, maybe she would just need to ply Jane with beer one evening in the future and hope it all worked out all right. If it really came to it, Maura would accept a celibate relationship if it was the only way to be. But she definitely had physical itches that needed scratching, and she liked the thought of Jane doing it, rather than getting her emotional needs met by Jane, and her other needs met elsewhere. She then realised how crazy this line of thought was. She was being driven home, after a thoughtful date with a woman she adored and she was already trying to work out if it would work to have a celibate relationship?

As it was, Maura smiled to herself, she needn't have worried. Once they got home, Jane was very happy to accept Maura's invitation for a make out session on the couch. And that slowly but surely lead from one thing onto another, until they clearly met the definition of lovers, anyway which way Maura defined it. To Maura's pleasant surprise, once Jane was in the mood she was passionate, enthusiastic and actually able to tell her what she liked. And they had liked a lot of things together. Maura found herself involuntarily squeezing her legs together in enjoyable recollection. At that point Jane began to stir. Though they had had a lovely night the night before, Maura wondered how Jane would cope to waking naked with her. She really didn't want her to bolt now, and started to muse on how she would soothe her and keep her from running. She imagined Jane appearing like a frightened animal on waking and remembering what has happened.

But that seemed the last thing she needed to worry about as Jane smiled languidly at her "Morning lover"

Maura startled "uh, morning yourself sleepyhead". She wondered what to do next, but then Jane reached over a long limb and pulled her up tight against her. Maura was so surprised she briefly tensed and Jane looked quizzically "okay?"

"Yeah, I just"

Jane suddenly looked more awake and suddenly anxious "you're not ah, regretting last night are you? I'm sorry to presume" and moved her arm away. Maura chuckled and wriggled back towards Jane snuggling in against her "overthinking, I'm sorry. There is nowhere I would rather be. And I am so pleased you don't seem to be regretting last night. I somehow got in my mind you might, and panic, and run" As Jane snuggled even closer against her she added "it seems the opposite might be true"

Jane chuckled huskily "oh Maura, run after last night? Man, I'd spent a lot of time imagining it, and it was that and then a whole load more I couldn't imagine. And it's not as if you got me drunk and then seduced me. Stone cold sober - I did drive you home remember?"

Maura tried to not to reveal her now embarrassing recollection that she had considered getting Jane drunk to seduce her "so you're okay?"

"Oh so much more than okay. I'm like the kid that just got the key to the sweet shop, I'm going to be coming back all the time, even if it isn't good for my waist-line"

Maura laughed and ran her hand down Jane's toned abdominals "I don't think there are any issues with your waistline detective Rizzoli"

"If your hand runs any further down those abdominals Dr Isles, there is going to need to be a delay on breakfast"

….

Jane groaned as she stared at the coffee machine on Monday morning. "C'mon. It's bad enough we have to leave the bubble to head back to work, the least you can do is give me some coffee to face the day with"

Maura skipped over "Look Jane, if you just let me"

"How can you be so cheerful about going back to work?"

"Well I have an interesting job, I have had a sensational weekend, and I feel sexually replete. Life is good Jane, don't you think?"

"Yeah but, well, a bit less work would be better"

"I didn't think I'd hear you say that. The weekend must have been good" Maura smirked at her.

….

By Wednesday Jane was starting to settle in the new pattern of grumbling until she got morning coffee, a day of work and then home to luxuriate in Maura's arms, and, well, Maura's bed. Dean had asked the BPD team to teleconference in any new ideas. The team had decided to meet for thirty minutes prior to see if they had any new ideas. Beyond discussing Maura's idea of advertising a job to try and lure the perp, Frost had brought up the issue of providing Maura's security detail "so I've noticed Jane has been doing this pretty much 24/7, and I think we all need to step up a bit more. "

Jane "cheers Frost, but I'm good"

Frost "look Jane we appreciate how much of the load you are willing to take, but we need to make sure you don't burn out"

Jane "Frost, I got it"

Frost "I know she's your best friend Jane, but we all love Maura too, and I'm just saying"

Korsak "honourable intent Frost, but I think Detective Rizzoli might be saying she will let us know when she needs some help"

Frost "yeah but I think we know asking for help isn't always Detective Rizzoli's strength"

Maura watched the conversation like a ping pong match, trying to decide how to intervene before things got any more heated

Korsak "look Frost, nice thought, but I'm not sure Jane sees looking after Maura as work. I think she might be taking some pleasure in the task"

Jane looked fit to burst at this, particularly when she saw the playful glimmer in Korsak's eye

Maura chose this moment to dive in "Jane seems to enjoy looking out for my pleasure, I mean my safety"

Jane "ENOUGH!" as Korsak looked at her with even more amusement. "Can't we just patch through to Dean now?" She was pleased to be saved from any further sly innuendo from Korsak by the phone ringing.

Dean and the team reported they had chased back Maura's idea and had a clear lead for the first time. Having looked at the male employee who had appeared in the labs within months of the killing of the ME they had then gone back through security camera footage of all the morgues, and confirmed the various identities all belonged to one man. His appearance had changed between sites – different dress style, facial hair or hair style, but comparing the stills, it was clear they had one man. Unfortunately no attempts to chase down his actual identity rather than the assumed aliases had yielded any success. Maura put forward her offer to advertise a job in the hopes it lured him out. They knew the facial features of who they were looking for now. Jane immediately reported she thought the plan was too risky. Dean appeared nonplussed by this, seeing it as a fairly standard ploy, and made the counterpoint that no one would expect Maura to be close to the interviews – it hardly needed the chief medical examiner of the state to interview a new criminologist. After much discussion Jane agreed, advertising a job working near Maura made perfect sense. The FBI would be behind the whole set up interview, and hopefully have their man walk in to the trap. Then, once they got him to interrogation, they just needed to get him to crack. Or find some way of linking him to the scenes that was more than some evidence he had used false identities to obtain work in various state ME offices. At least, they all concluded, at least that gave grounds to charge him, for impersonation.


	14. Chapter 14

Jane and Maura sat in a large room with Frost, Korsak, Dean, Enderlene and Cleaver watching a feed from the interview room that had been set up by the FBI within the Medical examiners office. Rodriguez and the FBI medical examiner Anderson, were conducting the interviews with five potential criminologists for the Boston lab. Rodriguez was acting as the administrative manager of the Chief Medical Examiners Office, and Enderlene was acting the Chief Criminologist. They were conscious that the perp, if they had lured him out, was highly intelligent and well versed in lab procedure, and would likely see quickly through anyone lacking technical knowledge, leaving Anderson the only real option to add to Rodriguez to get some technical heft.

After looking at dozens of applications, they had three they were sure were genuine applicants, one they thought had a high chance of being their man, and one which they hadn't been able to exclude. Jane yawned as she watched them go through the motions with the second of the unfortunate bona fide criminologists who was unaware there was no actual job. They had spent ages trying to make this look as genuine as possible, and having a couple of nervous applicants in the wait-room seemed essential. Rodriquez and Anderson seemed to be settling in to their roles as the second interview went on. Jane looked at her watch. Five minutes until they were due to interview the possible. That meant the probable should be turning up soon if they were correct in their assessment of the application information. Jane paced around the room. On the one hand she hoped there was not someone targeting Maura. On the other hand, if this bastard did, she just wanted him to turn up and get him now.

Dean's phone buzzed quietly and he looked up at the room.

"Survelliance staff outside think they have just sighted our man entering the building. They have photographs they're sending for facial recognition"

Jane looked back to the interview room where she saw that Rodriguez and Anderson were politely showing the current candidate to the door. Mr Probable was certainly very punctual – 35 minutes until his interview was due. That said, with parking outside the BPD, better to err on the side of caution if you're a methodical, organised serial killer trying to land your job Jane thought, before wryly shrugging at the bizzare thought process behind that.

She was jerked from her thinking by Dean quietly confirming that facial recognition software showed a high probability match between the photos taken by the surveillance officers outside and emailed to Dean, and the stills they had previously made from security footage from the other labs.

Jane felt the tension move up in the room. Fifteen minutes of watching the now Not-Mr-Possible being interviewed.

The plan for the day had been that Rodriguez and Anderson knew that the third interview was a possible, fourth a probable. They weren't wearing wires, and had decided they would appear more natural if they knew nothing more about whether the facial recognition was a match or not – they were just to continue the interview process as scripted. And to try and get any further contact details they could from the candidate. The surveillance team outside would tail him as he left, unless Dean gave orders otherwise. At the current time they had tenuous circumstantial evidence only. Despite everyone's frustration, they all agreed if they pulled him in now, unless they got him to crack, they would have to release him and then he would go to ground. Hopefully being able to observe him a little, and have Enderlene's interview prompts delivered by the team, they could get some sense of him, and thus what they might do next as an in. And the surveillance may net some useful information. Jane was highly hesitant about Maura remaining out there as a lure, but accepted the logic that he wouldn't meet Maura yet, and that not only were BPD following Maura from their end, but the FBI would now be tailing him 24/7 from their end. In theory, whilst he would be moving closer to Maura, now they had a quarry, the risk to her should be reduced by being a known rather than an unknown. But still.

They watched as Anderson and Rodriguez showed out the third candidate, and met briefly to purportedly discuss the candidate. They then went back out to invite Mr Probable in. Back in the observation room, they nodded tersely to each other. This was their man, unless the hypothesis about the changing identities was the oddest, most inexplicable set of coincidences. Jane saw Dean fire a message off before settling down to stare at the screen with the rest of them. She imagined the message was to Marcia Grey who would now be authorised to chase any piece of data she could mine from any of the links on the CV that "Jarrod Gilbert" had submitted. They imagined the references would be fake, and somehow linked back to him so he could provide them himself. She would be trying to hunt down anything that might give away his true identity, or any other mistake he'd left in cyber space.

Back in the room they watched avidly. Nothing about his demeanor in the interview would have tipped off anyone unaware of the situation to anything unusual about this applicant. He looked exceptionally well prepared. He responded with clear evidence of having read up about Maura's academic interests when asked about reasons he might want to work in this lab, but kept his demeanor calm and unconcerned when discussing her. Jane knew Maura would be sitting looking for micro-tells in his behaviour, and would go back through the video later in slow motion for anything she couldn't pick up from the real time feed. Jane meantime just sat there using "gut instinct". And her instinct was this guy was top of his game. And he looked like just the person you'd want to employ for the job. Rodriguez asked him about reasons he was motivated to do the job, a question scripted by Enderlene. He talked generally about finding answers for victims, and speaking for those that couldn't speak for themselves. She then asked about anything in his early life that might have motivated him to follow this path, but he politely described nothing beyond a strong interest in police procedurals in his teens and a love of science.

Anderson was doing a great job of throwing in technical questions – on one occasion as they got in to an enthusiastic discussion on different suppliers of gels for running electrophoresis, Jane became fairly convinced Anderson had momentarily gotten lost in the discussion, and forgotten why they were there. That would all help the cover story though for the FBI. And certainly confirmed their man knew his way around a lab, well.

Rodriguez looked at her watch and commented "Well Mr Gilbert, we're certainly very interested. We are likely to decide in the next 24 hours if we can call references. When would you be able to start?"

"One week? Enough time to confirm an apartment. As I said, I've been travelling for a few weeks after getting frustrated by the inefficient lab systems in my last job, so I don't need to give notice. And when I saw this job come up, it seemed a perfect opportunity to work in one of the best respected labs in the country"

"that quickly? Excellent. We really need to fill the job promptly. So where are you staying currently?"

"Just staying with some friends for a few days to do the interview, I'll get somewhere more permanent if I get the role"

"can I get a postal address perhaps for the contract, in case?"

"look, email and cell are so much easier currently, I'm not sure how much longer I can impose on my friends – I can print the contract out"

"I'm a real stickler for getting genuine ink from your signature and mine on the same page Mr Gilbert – I can't do that by email"

"Look, if you're interested in me for the job please just call me, I'm happy to drop by the office, look at the contract and sign it in front of you so you get all the ink right" he calmly smiled back.

They showed him to the door and Dean whistled quietly in the observation box "Man, he's not easily ruffled is he?".

…..

Three days later they were all meeting again.

Dean summarised "so we are 95% sure we have our man, short any definitive evidence. However, he looks like he will be near impossible to crack. Grey has gone through every possible lead off that CV. We know all of his references are not bona fide, and the emails he gives all cleverly look to come from different institutions but then route back to a series of dummy emails he controls and replies to. They are undoubtedly not emails from the institutions reported, but they also are cleverly then hidden through several different ISPs and are effectively untraceable. The phone contacts are all re-routed to burner cell phones. The qualifications are all forged, although Anderson is convinced he has extensive lab experience and probably has a bona fide qualification somewhere. And the identity Jarrod Gilbert and social security number appears to be for a boy who was lost by the foster care system aged 7, 29 years ago.

Three days of following him and we know he has rented a room at a small motel on the outskirts of Boston. A quick perusal of this room whilst we knew he was offsite has revealed a suitcase of new clothing, a few bits and pieces, but nothing of note. Thoughts?"

Rodriguez looked up "if this is our guy, he must be the most organised, conscientious serial killer we have ever followed. I still can't see how we get him"

Frost added "short of letting him attack Maura"

Jane looked around and growled at him "what a STOOOPID idea Frost, what the f*"

Korsak touched her arm "easy tiger. Frost wasn't suggesting that as an actual idea, we're just talking"

Maura cleared her throat "I've been wondering. Enderlene, what do you think would happen if we did something to unsettle his plans?"

Enderlene "like offer him the job, then withdraw the offer?"

Maura "yes, or, what if we let him get a little closer, but then made me deviate from his profile? Do you think that might upset him enough to make a mistake?"

Enderlene "maybe, if it put him off enough. What were you thinking?"

Maura "look, I'm just an ME, not a profiler. But I was wondering – he seems to target successful, apparently single female MEs right?"

Enderlene "Hmm?"

Maura "So what if we unsettled him by "

Frost "the Jane being your girlfriend thing? C'mon Maura, you know how she freaked about that last time"

As Jane glowered at Frost, Maura continued "actually Frost, I don't think that would be enough now. But I was wondering about whether I could make him re-consider it all by throwing in something he wasn't expecting at all. Like pregnancy"

Jane spluttered "Pregnancy Maur? How are you going to pull that off?"

Maura "well they have these suits available at childbirth education centres, so the dads can try on how pregnancy feels at each stage. Usually the full-term ones are the most popular, but you can get small 13 week belly and breast sets. I figured even if he has been observing me a bit of late, if I were suddenly 13 weeks pregnant, it isn't such a big thing that unless you knew me really well, you couldn't be convinced you hadn't just looked hard enough. And I was thinking that if I were meeting him and let slip I was looking forward to maternity leave in 6 months it might unsettle him for several reasons. One is I probably am not single, especially if I say my partner is as excited about the news as I am. So he has to reconsider that I'm not single, the pregnancy has caught him out, and also he will have some time pressure regarding the maternity leave. What do you think?" she looked up expectantly at the room

Enderlene replied "Maura, I think in theory it may be as good an idea as we have. It certainly moves you some distance from his usual profile"

Jane grimaced "but risky. Maura might not be good at acting pregnant. And if she is, doesn't she risk enraging him? So we then have a crazy serial killer targeting her?"

Frost "so Jane do you prefer a crazy serial killer targeting Dr Isles, or a cold, calculated, organised one"

Jane "Oh for f**ks sake Frost. Can we not put it like that?"

Dean "look, lets give that idea some thought and see what else we can come up with. Any more thoughts today?"

…..

A week later Jane was standing behind Maura in Maura's office. Maura was wearing the pregnancy suit, and a gorgeous early maternity wrap dress over the top. Jane was pushed up again Maura's back running her hands over her tummy, and up over her breasts

"oh Dr Isles, you can't imagine how much I want to make babies with you"

Maura smiled "so you want to do baby making with me Jane, or you want to have kids with me?"

Jane stilled briefly "well I like to pretend baby make with you. And gosh Maura, I wish I could genuinely make you pregnant by making love with you. Because you are so fucking sexy pregnant. I love your curves, and I, ah, I can't believe your breasts could get any more beautiful….and ah, I think you'd be a great Mum, and if you wanted, only if you wanted, I'd love to have kids with you, but ah if you didn't, I'd be good. I mean I've actually never much wanted kids before I was…um…with you, because I don't think I could ever imagine it before. Being with someone long term. Wanting ah a future and maybe a family with them. Oh man. I need to stop talking before I freak you out. Ah, what do you want Maur?". Jane finally moved her neck to look around at Maura who tilted her face back towards Jane's to make eye contact, and Jane saw the tears running down Maura's cheeks and the warm smile

Jane "umm I'm sorry Maura, I didn't mean to upset you"

Maura "Jane, I'm not upset. I am overcome with joy. I never thought I'd find anyone that would think I could be an okay parent after my experiences, given my social clumsiness, and I just love you. I'd like to take this conversation further some other time. I'm now just worried though you will want me to wear the pregnancy suit to bed and I'm not sure my loan arrangements with the childbirth class had that in mind"

Jane laughed and wiped Maura's cheek removing the tears. She nuzzled back in to her neck planting small kisses against it whilst running her hands back up Maura's rounded belly to her very full breasts.

"whoa!" Frost commented as he walked in "you guys are certainly getting in to the roles of lesbian lovers expecting a baby"

"Man Frost, do you ever knock?" Jane retorted angrily, jumping away from Maura

Frost looked them both up and down and then stared at Jane

"dammit Rizzoli, you're doing the doc aren't you? And you didn't even tell me, you sly dog"

"Respect Frost!" Jane retorted "and we're not…"

"Yes Barry, we are a couple" Maura interjected "and well done on your powers of observation"

Jane grumbled "Powers of no manners to walk before barging in to the Chief medical examiner's office you mean"

Maura smiled at him "So yes we are a couple, and very happy to be so. However it would be great if you could keep it to yourself for a little longer yet please? We were hoping to wait for all this to settle before making an announcement, and particularly, we haven't told Jane's family yet"

Frost "wow. So how long guys? I really am happy for you – I think it is wonderful news"

Jane "Frost, how about we stop gossiping like girls and get on with the job at hand"


	15. Chapter 15

**AN : many thanks for the positive comments and follows. Great motivation to get this finished up.**

Jane double checked "so you're all clear on your role Maura?"

Maura nodded and then jane and Frost watched as Maura headed out of the office.

Further along in the medical examiners office suite, Rodriguez was set up in an office, waiting for their guy to come in and sign his new contract. After much debate, the team had decided to try and force the situation by having Maura "drop by" Rodriguez's office whilst he was there and announce her pregnancy. There was no sign he was going to offer an easy mistake in the coming months based on his past meticulous preparationa, and so the decision had been made to see if they could generate some stress in him now to see if they could force a mistake. Everyone was apprehensive, but also desperate to get some evidence to get this guy put away.

Frost looked at Jane "you okay with this?"

"Nah. But actually yes. Obviously I'd like to just run away with her sometimes, some place I figure no one could get us. But I agree with the team call. We have to do something. I want this to be over. I want us to be able to move on"

"Congrats by the way. I'm really happy for you both. I've been hoping for a long time…"

Jane blushed "yeah thanks Frost, I'm pretty happy too. C'mon, we'd best go join Dean and team and listen in". They moved quickly to the incident room Dean was sited in, with multiple connections to wires on Maura and Rodriguez, as well as contact with the surveillance team outside.

They heard Maura's mic switch on, followed by the noise of her tapping on a door and her speaking

"oh sorry to interrupt, I was just popping in to ask for the budget summary for the month before my briefing with the Governor"

Rodriguez smoothly picked up "not interrupting at all Dr Isles. This is our new criminologist, Jarrod Gilbert, Mr Gilbert this is Dr Maura Isles, Chief Medical Examiner for the state of Massachusetts"

Maura "lovely to meet you Criminologist Gilbert. I hope you'll enjoy working here. Do you have any particular areas of special interest?"

Gilbert "Wonderful to meet you Dr Isles. I have been following your publications on kidney histiopathology in burns victims and I am excited to work with you and hear more about that"

Maura "gosh, I thought that was a fairly esoteric paper. You enjoyed it?"

Gilbert "being able to work with such aa a pre-eminent Chief Medical Examiner is part of the draw to Boston Dr Isles, of course I have been looking through your publications"

Maura "That is very flattering. I do hope you will generally find the environment here ideal though, not that you're just keen to work with me. Aside from the fact I am spread around a lot of other duties, I am expecting to be on maternity leave in a few months"

Gilbert "but surely that will just be a few weeks Dr Isles? With a job like yours, you'll be needed to get straight back to work"

Maura "I'm very lucky actually. My partner is very excited about the baby and happy for me to take a year off. I have done a lot of reading about how crucial that first year is in terms of newborn neurodevelopment and we think it will be best if we try and do that. I will miss the job and the team very much I think. But the governor has generously agreed that he will offer a temporary position as chief medical examiner for that year so I can take the leave. I am hopeful we get a good candidate apply. Maybe as a stepping stone to a permanent job, or one of our MEs may wish to take the role temporarily"

Rodriguez "Are you alright Mr Gilbert? I am sorry, I didn't realise Dr Isles was such a key part of your decision to apply to our lab. If you'd like another day or two to consider the contract?"

Gilbert "Ah no, of course not. Just a little surprised. I had not anticipated maternity leave, I'd thought Dr Isles was single, I mean, ah with her work rate and publication rate, I, ah, anyway I should finish signing this and get on my way"

Maura "well I'm sorry if we misrepresented the job. It's been a pleasure to meet you though, and I look forward to discussing that histiopathology and working with you in the future. I do plan to come back after the maternity leave of course, so it may be a long and productive working relationship"

They heard Maura walk out of the room and switch off her mic. They switched their attention to listen to Dean's instructions to the surveillance team.

Dean "okay guys, perp likely to leave the building in three to four minutes – we'll be watching through the security cameras. He sounded surprised and unsettled by the pregnancy news – not as smooth as we saw in the job interview, so please be ready"

….

Hard as it was, Jane and Maura had tried to continue about their duties within the building for the rest of the day. At six pm they went back down to meet with Dean and the rest of the team for a debrief before heading for Maura's home.

Dean "So, firstly, good work team. The interaction seems to have been well scripted. Rodriguez, smooth as ever. Maura, Rodriguez tells me you were very good – the wee touches like gently rubbing your belly talking about the maternity leave were very convincing. Our man seems unsettled. We saw that with you, where he lacked his smooth responses, and we also have seen that he appeared flustered on leaving the building. We are on high alert. This afternoon he has been noted to go in to a hardware shop and purchase a length of nylon twine, consistent with the previous ligatures used. That alone however is still insufficient evidence to bring him on yet. We bring him in now, he walks. Our plan is to run double surveillance teams on him, your property Maura, and both of you if at any time you are outside of the BPD building or your Beacon Hill property. Any questions?"

Jane "ah no, so time for home?"

"Hold up" stated Cleaver, coming forward from the back where he had been listening in on surveillance. "Dean, surveillance report that perp had driven out to woburn. We couldn't work out why, but he just entered Four Seaons firearms"

Korsak was quick to look up "I presume we need to stop him getting a gun?"

Dean "yes, but if we send the surveillance staff in now to intercept him, we still don't have enough to link him to…"

Korsak "I have an idea". They watched as Korsak quickly called through "Woburn Police department please?...yes Captain Andreas please….hi Mike, Vince Korsak here. In a bind. Do you have a quick thinking uniform out on the streets that can help me please, right now, explain later….Mmmhmm…. Mmm…..Thanks….Officer Nguyen, thank you for taking my call, Detective Sergeant Vince Korsak, BPD. We have a man in four seasons gun shop we want to discreetly stop obtaining a fire arm right now. Tall, slim, mid thirties in a green dress shirt and khaki chinos. I want you to do what you need to to interrupt the sale without looking like we are behind this. I'd suggest something like stating it is a random check re the sale, ask to see his gun license and then report there are currently concerns about forged licenses and you need to call this one in to headquarters. Improvise from there if you need to. No heroics though – the FBI are outside. You got this? Good luck."

They sat waiting listening to the surveillance report

"and a state patrol-woman has entered the building…..all seems calm currently…and suspect is leaving the building and has slammed his car door. He is now heading back towards Boston, surveillance in pursuit"

The phone rang "Korsak – officer Nguyen for you" .

They heard Korsak break off with "nice work officer, I'll be sure to let your captain know, thank you" before he turned to them and reported that as soon as Officer Nguyen stated she was unsure about the license and was planning to radio through, that he became highly irritated and stated he "didn't have time for this" and promptly left.

Jane "so should we stay here, or…."

Dean "we will keep on the surveillance Rizzoli. I have four teams at any one time monitoring him plus one each for you and Dr Isles. I think if you can, go home, we'll keep you informed"

…

Jane and Maura sat on the couch, having picked at a simple pasta dish Maura had prepared for them on getting home. Neither felt especially hungry or able to eat.

Jane laughed quietly "I can't settle to anything Maur, and much as I am still pretty keen on you, knowing there are four FBI agents outside watching the house is a bit of a libido killer too, so I can't even do that to fill in time"

Maura looked up "jane, you see making love to me as a way to fill in time?"

Jane looked horrified "man Maura, no, no, it's much more than that, I just…." And she looked up to see Maura chuckling

"Gotcha"

Jane sighed "Well done Maura, but I'm not sure about this new joking-cyborg thing"

Jane's cell rang "Rizzoli"

"Rizzoli, it's Dean. Suspect is approaching Beacon Hill. We know he has the ligature but believe he is otherwise unarmed. Please be alert. Surveillance teams remain in place and on high alert"

Minutes later there was a knock at the door

Jane leapt up and looked through the peephole. She saw Gilbert standing there. Presuming Dean would have given other orders if he didn't want her to answer, she cautiously opened the door

"hello, can I help you"

"I'm here for Dr Isles"

"I'm sorry, and you are?" Jane asked as she stood firmly in the doorway, wondering why she hadn't grabbed her gun from the holster before answering.

"I'm here for Dr Isles" he snarled, and Jane then suddenly saw a flash of steel and felt a wave of pain in her left side, as she was pushed to the floor. Jane felt herself collapsing to the floor and yelled as she saw Gilbert grab the ligature from his pocket and run towards Maura. Next thing she saw half a dozen feds fly through the door and saw him suddenly crash to the ground as he was about to reach Maura. She heard "a knife, we never knew he had a knife" as she felt the warm blood seep through her shirt.


	16. Chapter 16

Jane realised that everything had happened in moments. As she gathered herself from the floor and placed her hand over her stinging and bleeding left hip, she saw Maura run towards her. Maura was unhurt but appeared pale

"Jane, Jane, you've been stabbed"

Jane pulled her shirt up as Maura got there to look and relaxed as she saw Maura's body relax and then heard her say "oh thank goodness, he has just hit the musculature above your iliac crest. Some stitches will tidy this up quickly"

"so, no significant damage?" asked Jane

"No" Maura mumbled as she grabbed Jane for a hard hug.

"Careful Maur, still stings a bit"

"Sorry Jane, just so relieved you're okay. And so relieved they have him"

They looked over at Gilbert who was now handcuffed and sitting on the floor with two federal agents beside him.

"and" smiled Jane, "if nothing else we can definitely hold him in custody and charge him for assault with a weapon on me. I'm sure that will let us get the rest of what we need. Well worth a few stitches!"

"Jane Rizzoli! And you complain about me being used as bait. Did you want him to attack you?"

"No Maura, I had no idea. I just figured we would wing it and Dean would come up with something. Anyway, who do I have to thank for the quick reflexes in getting to Mr Gilbert before he could even lay a finger on Dr Isles?" Jane smiled towards the assembled federal agents.

"It was actually the slowest reflexes Detective Rizzoli" replied one agent, pointing and smiling towards Bass.

"Well I'd have to sympathise with him" laughed Jane "he certainly hurts if you trip over him! But well done Bass, we'll have to get Maura to get you some extra nice Strawberries this week".

…..

Jane was left rather stiff and sore by her stitches. She was off active field duty for two weeks whilst the cut healed, to ensure she wouldn't put pressure on the wound. She was however allowed to do desk duty and be involved in the debrief processes. So the following day the team sat happily in the post-incident debrief. Enderlene was up front discussing her findings

"so, as you will know, once we had him definitely for assault on Detective Rizzoli we were able to go through his hotel room with a warrant. And we found a well hidden set of identity cards for Aaron Fredricksen, 35, originally of Delaware. Once we had that information to put pressure on in the interview, he basically broke down.

Mr Fredricksen appears to be highly intelligent and have a very damaged personality structure. He felt extremely angry at his solo Mother who had fallen pregnant at 15. Despite her high intellect, she struggled on the margins of society, not able to get anything beyond cleaning and other poorly paid and insecure work. Accordingly, Aaron attended several elementary schools, and she ended up moving him high schools weeks before the end of final year. He managed to get university entrance to Delaware State University and managed an undergrad degree successfully, but his final GPA was 0.1 off getting entry to Jefferson Medical College. He feels strongly that his failure to get a high enough GPA reflected the failings in his early education, for which he blames his Mother's unplanned pregnancy. This seems a part of underpinning his deranged view of women.

He then has gone on to work as a criminologist, but appears to have become enraged by working with highly competent female MEs. On the one hand he appears to feel he should have been able to be the ME, indeed feels he would be the ME had he had a better early education and gotten the GPA points. On the other hand, whilst we might have thought he respected those female MEs for appearing to be opposite to his mother, he appears to have developed an angry relation towards women, categorising them all as sluts (like his 15 year old Mother in his mind) or frigid (hence single, career driven medical examiners).

Dr Isles unexpected revelation of her pregnancy and a partner seems to have unsettled him more than we might have imagined, as he hasn't been able to classify her clearly in to his schema of frigid or slut.

Effectively in the context of ranting about this, he has confessed the murder of the other medical examiners. Whilst we still have limited evidence, we have a taped, admissible confession, combined with the witnessed attack on detective Rizzoli and attempt on Dr Isles. So Aaron Fredricksen is likely to spend the rest of his remaining days within cell walls"

After they completed the formal debrief, they decamped to the Robber for a more informal debrief. After a couple of beers, Jane leant over and kissed Maura warmly on the cheek.

"hey up?" remarked Frankie. "Janie, is there something you want to tell us?"

"Oh man, yeah. Sorry Frankie. Weird few weeks. So couldn't quite work out when to say. So yes, I am very pleased to say Maura and I are a couple"

"Really Sis? After all that stuff about it being a stupid idea to pretend you guys were in a relationship?"

Jane blushed "yeah, ah, can I call that denial"

"so does Ma know?"

"ah no, I think Maura and I might be needing to go see her when we leave here? Okay Maur?"

"of course Jane. I have been looking forward to telling Angela. I think you will be surprised how supportive she is"

Frankie "so, ah what about the precinct? Is this still a secret-not secret?"

Jane "what do you mean?"

Frankie "Well half the precinct has long thought you and Maura are an item. And of course this week, the grapevine is now running hot with the news Dr Isles, ah Maura, is pregnant"

Jane "oh man Frankie. What do we do now?"

Frankie "well I imagine you either think Fuck em, who cares? Or you get someone to gently get amongst the uniforms and confirm you are dating the Doc, but the pregnancy stuff is just rumour related to yet another successful Rizzoli case"

"whaddya reckon Maur" Jane husked. "we go home, tell Ma, call your parents and let Frankie out us to the precinct?"

"hell yeah Jane" Maura laughed

"how much wine have you had Maura?" Jane anxiously asked

Maura leaned over and whispered in her ear "Jane, I've been wanting this for years. I'm sure. None of this is too soon. I've been desperate to tell everyone we're finally us"

….

Maura smiled warmly at Jane as they pulled up. "It'll be okay Jane. She just wants to see you happy."

"yeah, but it isn't really embraced by the catholic church"

"that same church that your Father asked her for an annulment from to get around its teachings about marriage?"

"it still matters to her"

"yeah, but so do you Jane. Besides, she has laid some heavy hints at my door that she'd love to see me her daughter in law, and I've never thought she saw me as a match for Frankie"

"trust Ma to meddle" Jane laughed "what did she say?"

"just how open minded she was, and sometimes what we wanted was just under our noses"

"ha ha, maybe she was trying to get you to make a move on her" Jane laughed then suddenly paused "actually delete that thought, I am not sure where I was going there, but I don't want a mental image of my Mother coming on to you"

"so Jane, how do you want to do this?"

"just walk right in and say something?"

….

They knocked on the door of the guest house but there was no answer  
They walked back along the path to Maura's house "oh well, we'll just have to find some way to fill in this evening" Jane laughed huskily as she ran her hands across Maura's rear "and do the talking thing tomorrow". She began placing warm wet kisses up and down Maura's neck as Maura fumbled with the key. Maura finally got the key in and the door fell open, the two women stumbling laughing in to the kitchen. Jane went to reach out to grab Maura when she heard her Mother

"hello girls. Hope it's okay to be in your kitchen Maura, I was just making a bit pot of pasta sauce in preparation for…."

"Never a problem Angela" maura remarked happily

"oh, yeah, umm Hi Ma" Jane replied "we were just looking for you anyway"

Angela grabbed them both in a cheerful hug "Coming to tell me you have that terrible man sorted? I'm so proud of you"

Jane pulled out of the hug "yeah, and, to say, Maura and I, we, ah" and she felt Maura's hand slide comfortingly in to hers "we're together"

Angela looked "I can see you're together. You're almost always together" then she shrieked "oh you mean TOGETHER! Oh Janey. Oh Maura" and she bear-hugged the two and began kissing them both happily. "you finally got your act together Jane Clementine Rizzoli. Or Maura did? In fact who did? And how long?" the questions tumbled over each other in her excitement

"Whoa Ma, give us a chance to answer eh? Maura and I were in the midst of declaring our feelings when she got snatched by Paddy. But very much since she came back."

"Ah Jane, I'm so happy for you two. You make such a perfect pair. I can't believe you needed a serial killer to make you realise that though"

Maura smiled "silver linings I guess"


End file.
